May We Practice Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

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."

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."

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

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.

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

"…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

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.

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

Hands Palm to Palm,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

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

The challenge is, how do we team-up with people who have zero interest in working or cooperating outside their own agenda? How do we dance with people who are frequently hostile or negative? In short, a "possible" answer goes back to what I was talking about yesterday... Living by Vow. So what are the specific vows I'm talking about?

Though some may think vows are a little lofty, vague and abstract, they often find a very clear and concrete point of expression. This is important to learn and experience. If our practice has no real-time practical application, it's useless and should be dropped.

In dealing with people who "seem" to have a knack for conflict, I make the strong effort to notice what is so-called "Right," about that person, rather than see what's wrong in their attitude or behavior. Remember, "What we think about expands." If I think and feel like you are a jerk that what expands for me. If I think and feel that you are a Buddha, carrying awakened mind, that's what expands for me too.

Surely if people can learn to work with and tame lions, tigers, elephants, bears... fear, anger, frustration, resentment, disappointment, depression, then so to with the relationships that we have with other people as well. This effort is easier said than done, but at the same time constantly teaches us a lot about others and ourselves.

What are the vows and policies of mind that we make the effort to live by? How's our relationship with our vow(s) going?

Kosho Uchiyama Roshi once wrote "Only when you live by vow does everything you meet- wherever, whenever, whatever happens- reinforce your life as buddha-dharma. As long as you have that vow to live out your life wherever you are, sooner or later spring will come. And when it does, you will have the strength to grow. This is the life force. You have to thoroughly understand that this is completely different from selfish ambition."

Please give what I'm saying, some feeling and thought. Write back and express your own experiences. In the sharing of our life, we help each other and fulfill our purpose of being.

May Your Life Go Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO

Before Venerable Master Sheng Yen's passing last year, he said - "The universe may one day perish, yet my vows are eternal." Another time I heard Ryushin Marchaj, Sensei say, "Someone, knowing that Daido Roshi was ill was aware that I was spending a great deal of time with him. He asked me how I was doing. I told him, hopefully remembering my vows." Yes.

In the vows that I took from Genjo Osho in Jukai, I'm understanding that these are not just words but living beings. They have to be planted... nurtured... rooted... watered... cared for... harmonized with... digested... dissolved... In this up and down relationship, I'm doing my best. There's nothing else to do.

Please remember Kosho Roshi's words. "Live by vow and root it deep. Do your best, in living out This life."

May We Practice Our Life Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO