| PAGE ONE Fall, 2001 Issue: Spirit & Crisis EDITOR'S NOTE BUDDHASCOPE DHARMATALK FOUNDOBJECTS GUESTCOLUMN QUOTES POETRY READING ROOM REVIEWS CONTACT US SITE INDEX SUBSCRIBE |
WHEN HUMAN EMOTIONS come out of control, then the best part of the brain in which we make judgments cannot function properly.
-- H.H. The Dalai Lama
IT DOESN'T INTEREST ME to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children...
-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer
from "The Invitation"
IF AN INDIVIDUAL HAS a calm state of mind, that person's attitudes and views will be calm and tranquil even in the presence of great agitation.
-- The Dalai Lama
DON'T FORGET,
you are always on our minds.
-- Fortune cookie saying
from Chinese restaurant in West Virginia
IT IS POSSIBLE THROUGH MEDITATION to find shelter from much of the wind that agitates the mind. Over time, a good deal of the turbulence may die down from a lack of continuous feeding. But ultimately the winds of life and of the mind will blow, do what we may. Meditation is about knowing something about this and how to work with it.
The spirit of mindfulness practice was nicely captured in a poster of a seventy-ish yogi, Swami Satchitanananda, in full white beard and flowing robes atop a surfboard riding the waves off a Hawaiian beach. The caption read: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
Jon Kabat-Zin
p. 31-32 from "Wherever You Go, There You Are"
Hyperion, 1994
YOU MUST KNOW FOR YOURSELF, directly, the truth of yourself and you cannot realize it through another, however great. There is no authority that can reveal it.
-- J. Krishnamurti
from "Authentic Report of Sixteen Talks,"
page 85, given in 1945-46
BY BEING WITH YOURSELF ... By watching yourself in your daily life with alert interest, with the intention to understand rather than to judge, in full acceptance of whatever may emerge, because it is there, you encourage the deep to come to the surface and enrich your life and consciousness with its captive energies., This is the great work of awareness; it removes obstacles and releases energies by understanding the nature of life and mind. Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.
Nisargadatta Maharaj
from "I Am That," quoted in
"Wherever You Go, There You Are"
by Jon Kabat-Zin
"STOPPING" IS THE BASIC PRACTICE of meditation. To keep our flowerness fresh, we have to learn how to stop our worries, anxieties, agitation and sadness so that we can find peace and happiness and smile again. When things are not going well, it is good to stop in order to prevent the unpleasant, destructive energies from continuing.
Stopping does not mean repressing; it means, first of all, calming. If we want the ocean to be calm, we don't throw away its water. Without the water, nothing is left. When we notice the presence of anger, fear and agitation in us, we don't need to throw them away. We only have to breathe in and out consciously, and that alone is enough to calm the storm. We do not need to wait for a storm to begin to practice. When we are not suffering, conscious breathing will make us feel wonderful, and it is the best way to prepare ourselves to deal with troubles when they come.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh
from p. 13 in "Touching Peace:
Practicing the Art of Mindful Living"
Parallax Press 1992
TAMING THE BULL
The whip and rope
Are necessary,
Else he might stray off
Down some dusty road. Being well trained,
He becomes naturally gentle. Then, unfettered,
He obeys his master.
-- Kakuan (1100-1200)
from 2001 entry in www.dailyzen.com
IT'S SO SIMPLE TO BE WISE.
Just think of something stupid to say,
then say the opposite.
-- Sam Levenson, American humorist
TEACH US TO CARE and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
-- T.S. Eliot
MORE WISDOM IS LATENT in things-as-they-are than in all the words men use.
-- Saint-Exupery
WHILE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS is clear or under control, why not assist ourselves and others to enjoy life? What does enjoyment mean? We generally think we enjoy such occasions as a delicious meal with drinks. When asked about enjoyment, a man generally thinks of enjoying time with a woman, and a woman enjoys time with a man, or a man with a man, or a woman with a woman. But when we eat or drink too much we suffer. Interesting, isn't it?
One of my teachers kept saying over and over to me, "Are you enjoying it?" I thought he was dumb in always asking this question without saying what it was. When I was growing up, I had a close, caring relationship with my grandmother. When she died, the teacher intentionally came to me and asked me, "Are you enjoying it?"
I said, "I'm sad. I'm not enjoying it."
He smiled gently and said, "Sad, yes. And yet, are you enjoying it?"
I can still hear his voice.
-- Sensei Ogui
p. 132 in "Zen Shin Talks"
Zen Shin Buddhist Publications, 1998
RECENTLY, AN OLD-TIMER CAME TO ME and complained that he no longer felt enthusiasm for his practice. I questioned him and learned that he was limiting his zazen to his visits to the Zendo. I can understand how his enthusiasm might erode over a period of time when his zazen is limited to two sessions a week.
It is not merely enthusiasm that erodes when practice declines. Your body and mind go out of tune.You are no longer a vessel of insight. The cardinal can sing; the wind can move the ironwood trees delicately; a child can ask a wise question --and where is your center? How can you respond?
It is time to put yourself back in tune, to be ready for experiences that make life fulfilling. Take up the advice for beginners. Put your zazen pad somewhere between your bathroom and your kitchen. Sit down there in the morning after you use the bathroom and before you cook breakfast. You are sitting with everyone in the world. If you can sit only briefly, you will at least have settled your day.
No advice is easier to give than this, or harder to follow -- for me too. The day stretches forth before me invitingly. Surely I can cut my zazen without harm, and get at the important stuff. One tiny decision leads to more tiny decisions, and the path is neglected.
-- Robert Aitken Roshi
from "Encouraging Words"
(submitted by Thad Settle)
LIFE
is a verb.
-- Buckminster Fuller
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