Growing

Sitting quietly,
doing nothing,
spring comes,
and the grass grows by itself.
~ Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134, 222)

My Practice

Recently I had a dialog with a practitioner friend about whether I was Zen "through & through" and why it's sometimes difficult for us Westerners to develop a consistent sitting discipline.

I wanted to share my response just so folks get a better idea of where I'm at right now in my Buddhist practice.

...for right now, I feel most "at home" when practicing Soto Zen. However, I also feel "at home" to a great degree with TNH's practices as well. Luckily, my teacher teaches both. For now I'm sticking with these two Zen traditions. This may change in the future, but for right now I'm not actively looking to other traditions for my Buddhist practice. So, the short answer to you’re question is yes, I consider my self Zen through and through.

To the question of why developing a sitting discipline is so hard. For me, I would have to say that it's because my mind and body has gotten so used to constant external stimulation (food, music, books, internet, sports, etc.) that it finds the quite, motionless experience of zazen to be very uncomfortable. But then again, there is sort of a paradox that exists for me because I actually feel "right with the universe" (so to speak) when I sit zazen. We just need to remember to be patient with ourselves and keep at it as best we can given our life's circumstances. These habits we've formed over the years can be quite hard to work with can't they?

Inari-Sushi

Who likes Inari-Sushi? Raise your hands!

I’ll tell you what, I DO!!

I just had my very first Inari and it was DE-LISH!! They were perfect with California Rolls for a nice light lunch.

Anyone else out there like this stuff too?

Wild Mind

Sat Zazen last night for about 20 minutes. My judging mind wants to say it was not such a good sitting. But in essence there are no good or bad sittings, or so I’ve been taught.

My delusory mind sure wants to see it that way at the moment. The mind chatter, day dreaming and sleepiness were to say the least, quite challenging. All I could really do was bring my self back to the breath. I even tried breath counting and noticed my mind starting to make up day dreams based on what number I was on. I tried my best to just be with the mind state the way it was, but for the first time in a long while I found that my patience just wasn’t there. I ended up cutting the sitting short by 10 minutes. Again the judgment came in about that and I really tried to just be with it rather than feeding the guilt and disappointment I felt.

You know, recounting the experience a day later I’m getting the impression that the sitting was actually a very good one in that I had a lot to work with and had good practice at consistently bringing myself back to the present moment. This realization helps with the resistance to sitting that I’ve been dealing with lately. Not attaching a negative judgment to my sitting helps me want to sit again tonight. Believe it or not I’m less afraid of being alone, one on one with my wild mind now.

Angels

So, I thought I’d give this digital photo thing a try. I took these this weekend in our back yard. Just goofing around trying to get the hang of it.

This one is nice:

But this one is my favorite:

I think these came out pretty well, don't you?

Service

This may seem like a silly question coming from an educated person in today’s information age, but I want to assume nothing.

What activities do you partake in (or would like to partake in) that help you lead a life of service to your fellow human beings?

I need your feedback on this. I need your ideas. I feel on the verge of something in my life and need ideas on what I could be doing to be of service towards my fellow human beings. I want to hear about anything and everything. From volunteering at my local homeless shelter to starting a new career heading the agency that will end world hunger.

Can you help? If so, please leave a comment on this post or email me here.

Thank you very much.

Hoping to make you smile

In the spirit of trying to be less serious and learning to lighten up a bit, I just had to share this with you all. You might have seen this before but read it again, I find that I always get something additional out of re-reading something I’ve seen before.

Enjoy and I hope it will bring at least a smile to your face today.

I OWE MY MOTHER!!

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12 My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

Art of Zazen

Came across this wonderful article a while ago and just wanted to pass it on to others in hopes that it would help in their practice as well.

Art of Zazen
by Dainin Katagiri roshi

Skype II

Oh man, you've gotta install Skype!! It's totally awesome! Easy to use, great sound quality, and best of all FREE! Free internet Telephony!!

Install it and ring me up sometime. You don't want to miss this wave folks!!!

Skype

Is there anyone in my blog universe that is on Skype? If you are, email me your Skype name I'd love to chat. I'd be glad to email my Skype name, just drop me a line.

I just installed this VoIP software and Skype users can talk to each other for free. The sound quality is awsome! Let's give it a try.