Mind and the Nature of Mind

Sogyal Rinpoche talks on the practice of coming to know our mind and how to return home to our Awakened Nature.

May We Practice Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
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Watering The Seeds of Happiness

I'm in the process of finishing an audiobook called "Living Without Stress or fear," by Thich Nhat Hanh, and wanted to share a few takeaways this week. It's been a wonderful book to listen to, with a lot of clear, unambiguous pointers on practice.

The most recent point Thich Nant Hanh made that I could take to heart is when he said, "When we talk with others, am I watering the seeds of kindness?" Which also implied, or am I watering the seeds of unhappiness or unkindness when I interact with others.

Though I have this feeling that I want to "Water the seeds of kinds," what does that really mean? It's easy to mistake that pointer as being light, fluffy or soft. Conversely, when people hear such expression it's easy to think of words like "Hippie, impractical, bull crap" or "Fortune cookie philosophy."

Sitting with the principle of "Watering the seeds of kindness," I thought about my own experiences. Reflecting on my teacher, it was clear to see that he hits it straight with me, consistently seeming to focus on where I'm at, rather than where I'm not. He's direct and doesn't really soften things, often telling me the things that my "ego," does not want to hear. I also have a close friend who can be, just plain old blindingly direct and disarming. When I'm in choppy water, they point out what I'm genuinely facing, rather than what I might wish i was. That can make for awkward moments, but it creates a window wherein I can more live than just survive my life. Trust me when i say this.

When i used to train in Chinese martial arts, Shifu once said to us, "The people who love you will play it straight with you. If somethings doesn't seem or feel right, they'll let you know, giving you the opportunity to correct the difficult or potential problem. The people who don't care for you, will say and do nothing, to redirect you. They might see you heading for a wall and either say nothing or actually encourage your denial, for potentially a hundred different reasons. Because of this, cherish the people that will tell you the hard things that make you angry. In the end it really may help you, if you can see through it."

At the same time, "Watering seeds of kindness," can also mean, using kind hearted speech that unifies the moment, because there are time and situations that are tough enough on their own, without me needing to add anything to it. We need kind and caring speech to steady and reduce our fear, anger or even panic.

Throughout the day I can ask myself, "How am I with each others? Is my intent to help not just with quick fixes and enabling or a way of being that will some day be sustainable? Am I being a genuine friend or not? Am I talking and caring in a way that will open Heart-Mind or close it? If not, what is that behavior about and how will it help me to live out my life?

If you decide to, please think, feel and practice with this. Comment back and let us know how it goes. Daily we have many opportunities to learn from each other.

May We Extend Caring Through Our Life,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Homeward Path

I've been fortunate enough to have directly met Zen Buddhism more than 20 years ago, though I didn't start practicing right away. Today... Just for today, Zen means "Returning home." Practice is nothing more than This. The practice and effort to come home, come home, come home, come home, rather than run away from home that is our Awakened Mind which is often referred to as Buddha nature.

So here we are, circling a Sun at the perfect distance to sustain our life. We have every resource that we need to more Live more than survive. How perfect is that? There is no sense in wasting the miraculous opportunity of having This life.

One way that we can show our deep appreciation for this life is by making the effort to fully see our lives clearly and in the process, fully live out This life. We do this by sitting on a cushion, straightening our back, holding our head in a way as though it supports the vast blue sky, put the focus of our breath two inches below our belly button and work hard to befriend ourselves and return home. This is the "Homeward Path."

I have a teacher. His name is Genjo Marinello Osho. He has a teacher. His name is Eido Shimano Roshi. He had a teacher named Soen Nakagawa Roshi and so it continues all the way back to Rinzai Gigen Zenji and by extension Shakyamuni Buddha. Even Shakymunui Buddha had a teacher, that gave him instruction on how on practice. This implies we all can be students and teachers of each other. We need that. It's critical.

All being is seamlessly connected and we can act in ways that are helpful, compassionate and caring. We have real opportunities to learn from their instruction and come to know the Truth of ourselves, rather than the scripts that we've been attempting to live out like an actor on a stage for a role that might not really belong to us. Zen is the mapless map which guides us homeward.

May We Practice Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Bell and Robe

Let it never be said that my teacher fails to miss hitting the moment where I'm at. It's uncanny. In his most recently published teisho, "Bell and Robe," Case number 16, from the Mumonkan, Genjo Marinello Osho discusses "Why we do what we do." As ever he touches the earth and makes it a home.

"…You know we don't have very much choice over a lot things in life. We just have to take it as it comes. We have to learn from everything that comes and allow it to be our next point of maturity. There are many, many potential so-called distractions or hindrances, but through Zen practice we turn all those distractions and hindrances into challenges and they become our turning point of how to go deeper and become more mature and over time become less distracted and disturbed by a wider range of phenomena, both inside and outside our physical form. This is a a good thing. This is called maturity in the Way…

But still after 30 years of training... shaving my head 30 years ago, this year, When I find myself distracted or disturbed or overwhelmed or conflicted… worried… you name it, and especially with this new building that we have taken on ownership of and figure out how to make it all work… And I'm very pleased by the way, how many people have taken up the cause form making donations to samu projects to organizing committees and it just amazing how we are all participating in this. But I can also feel the tension of this extra new responsibility both personally and collectively. So this is our challenge, to make this our learning and any distraction or hinderance or disturbance that I may feel inside myself, I can say ohhh ohhh, this is my new challenge… this is my new opportunity… this is my new learning, to stretch 30 years of training into more maturity and ultimately more equanimity, even with a wider range and spectrum of the human condition.

We say human condition, but it's interesting in our practice of Zen, we realize that the human condition is the condition of the universe itself. It's a pretty daaaang big spectrum for whatever you look at or hear or touch or taste, if you do so fully, you transcend the supposed distinction or difference between whatever it is that you are engaged in, whether it's chopping vegetables, sweeping the floor, listening to the bell, putting on your robe or taking it off. We become seamless with whatever activity we're engaged in and that's referred to as samadhi.. or harmony with our surroundings, where the distinctions between self and other, in and out, host and guest begin to fall away..."

If you would like to listen to the complete teisho, you can get it for free from iTunes or the Choboji Podcast site. No matter where you get it from, enjoy it. It's beautiful.

With Hands Palm to Palm,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Learning to Care

"You exist in my universal self and what I direct myself to is caring for the you that is not separate from me." Kosho Uchiyama Roshi

Practicing Zen over the years, there's been a slow but steady recognition that we live with a mixture of "Seeing" and "Unseeing." By seeing I mean, the experience and knowing that we are connected, entangled and what I see in you are the things that are actually within myself too. This give an, "I can relate" or "I feel bonded to you" sensation.

When saying, "Unseeing" I mean that it's the experience of being so distorted, distracted, sometimes overly self involved that the net result is a sensation of psychological, emotional and spiritual disconnectedness. This hides the fact that we actually are together all the time.

Practicing Zen, the "Way of Unifying Heart-Mind," is to understand that as I learn to harmonize the body through my physical posture, the breath inside the breath and heart-mind with so-called "True being," that simultaneously that activity turns up the volume on my ability to experience my connection with others. By expanding seeing, caring can be expressed more deeply... authentically... ordinary...

So how do we practice? By sitting in zazen, learning to care for the body, learning to take care of our breath and learning to care for our heart-mind.

Once, my teacher, Genjo Marinello Osho was checking our postures during Zazen and as I sat, he took the time and even readjusted the posture of my hands. Without saying a word, he conveyed, "Care for your hands like This." It seemed like a very small thing, but so caring, at the very same time. He was looking out for me and seeing himself at precisely the same time. This was mutual benefit.

Today it's not uncommon to hear people use the expression, "Namaste'." It's degenerated in some instances as code for "I'm spiritual," and cool. But it only can genuinely be spiritual if we are seeing... really seeing rather than unseeing. Otherwise it's the unseeing that makes it a kind of punchline and it's not genuine caring.

Practicing and learning to care. This is the Zen that I'm making effort with, just for today. I'm really hoping that you practice too. believe it or not, we need the support of each others practice, in living out our life. I'm feeling It can be no other Way that this.

May We Practice Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

No Coming, No Going

Thich Nhat Hanh speaks on the basic aspects of Buddhism, that lends itself to a befriending of our genuine self. Enjoy.

Hands Palm to Palm,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Bigger Than Our Problems

Over the weekend, a friend told me a story that has stuck with me since he told it. Thomas related how he has a grandson that it 14 years old, that he took camping. After they got there, they went out on the dock which was a little slippery. His grandson slipped and fell in the water. Instantly his grandson started to panic, since he didn't know how to swim.

Thomas' daughter who was there too, ran to the dock. She yelled to Thomas to go in and get him out of the water, as he seemed to just be looking on at his grandson's trouble. Thomas jumped in to the water. As got over to his grandson, the child flailed in the water with what Thomas described as "fear" and "panic" in his eyes. Once Thomas got close to him, he said, "Son... why don't you just stand up? You are much bigger than your problem. The waters not deep as you think."

His grandson, stopped, touched his feet down and realized that the water was only about 3 feet deep. Thomas said the boy instantly laughed, in relief. He also told me, the 5 foot 11 inch teenager also learned how to swim, during the trip.

The day after Thomas told me his latest story, I sat down in Zazen and reflected on his words, "We are much bigger than our problems." I had to admit to myself that having been a child, teenager and now an adult, it doesn't always feel that way. It's usually that our mind can project and over complicate circumstances and situations to the point where everything that we encounter looks like Mount Everest and overwhelming. Our mind and assumptions can play tricks on us.

After getting up from Zazen, there was something that I remembered. It was the fact that though I've faced many, many, many challenges in my life... moments that at the time felt really though... perhaps undoable... there was always reaching the other shore... making to the other side... and it wasn't just surviving the moments, but actually living through them and learning about myself.

Thomas is very correct. We are bigger than our problems. We are gifted with having a human life, so that we can wake up! Wake up to something that is much bigger than what our day-to-day distractions would lead us to believe.

May We Practice Our Life Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Discovering Who We Really Are

Happy Friday. Winding down the week, I felt a short 10 minute video with Sogyal Rinpoche talking on "The Ultimate Goal of Meditation," which is that of discovering who we really are.

May We Practice Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO