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With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the bodhisattva Manjushri addressing the Buddha, says, "Noble sir, one who stays in the fixed determination of the vision of the Uncreated is not capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment. However, one who lives among created things, in the mines of passions, without seeing any truth, is indeed capable of conceiving the spirit of unexcelled perfect enlightenment. [For] Noble sir, flowers like the blue lotus, the red lotus, the white lotus, the water lily, and the moon lily do not grow on the dry ground in the wilderness, but do grow in the swamps and mud banks. Just so, the Buddha-qualities do not grow in living beings certainly destined for the uncreated but do grow in those living beings who are like swamps and mud banks of passions. Likewise, as seeds do not grow in the sky but do grow in the earth, so the Buddha-qualities do not grow in those determined for the Absolute but do grow...

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves. ~Bertrand Russell Post written by Leo Babauta . If youre going to do anything interesting in the world, criticism is an unavoidable fact. Youll be criticized, because youll make mistakes, because some will be jealous, because people have opinions about anything interesting, because people want to help you, because some want to drag down those doing anything different. The trick to navigating the icebergs of criticism is to figure out which are helpful, and steer clear of those that arent. And above all, do it with grace. Criticism on Zen Habits Once Zen Habits started to take off I had 26K subscribers at the end of my first year in 2007 I received all kinds of criticism. Many of them were from new readers, who were mostly incredibly positive and encouraging, but who sometimes would leave scathing comments on a post. I learned a tactic that work...

"What we think, we become. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Certainly one of my favorite plays, Samuel Becketts play, Waiting for Godot , is most interesting, because it often provides me with food for thought. The title of the play pretty much tells you everything important about the play. The main characters in the play wait for Godot to show up. However, Godot never shows up. In the meantime, the characters pass the time in conversation and encounters with two odd passerby. The play, itself, lacks what we expect a play to be. The play offers us no clues as to whom Godot is or is not or whom he represents. What we can be certain of is that Godot doesn't show up and the main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, continue to wait for Godot not sure he said he would even come. We could even say that the thrust of the play is about waiting. Godot, we might imagine, is Jesus, or it could be our search for enlightenment. Along with this, there is also an almost unbearable sense of doubt in the play, but never quite getting to 'all is in vain...

Recently I invited the Dalai Lama to come sit on the couch in my living room. He looks right at home there, don't you think? Blends right in and all, just what you'd think the Dalai Lama would do. Serene, at home, reflective. You'd think I might have had a few intelligent questions for him. Maybe even a cup of tea. Well if you thought that you'd be wrong. But he's a patient guy and he just waited out my performance anxiety. OMG what will I ask him now that I have a chance? When I finally settled I asked, "what is this anxiety all about? Why do I get anxious about the same old things over and over? Isn't that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? You'd think I'd learn? What can I do about this? He looked at me quietly and deeply. I felt a great sense of peace emanating from him. He was apparently okay with my anxiety. And I wondered, "why is it so hard to just accept things as...

While I have been fixated on natural disasters - maybe you all missed the recent earthquake in Burma - there's been other things going on in the blogosphere. Please keep Jeanne, from over at the blog The Dalai Grandma in your thoughts and prayers. She has had a lot of health challenges in recent years, and currently is struggling. Over at Open Buddha is a post about the continued game playing of Genpo Roshi. Is he a Zen teacher or not? Is he stepping down or not? Is anyone going to do anything or not? The whole thing has gotten tiring, but if you're interested, there's plenty to read about online. Algernon has a good post on the U.S. role in Lybia, and particularly how it's being framed by the Obama Administration. Maia Duerr's new blog, The Liberated Life Project, has been a treat to see unfold. Her current article takes lessons learned while being a non-profit executive director and applying them to one's life in general. It's worth a read. Daishin of...

" I teach one thing and one only: that is, suffering and the end of suffering." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Sometimes a beginners questions are a little off target but, nevertheless, offer food for thought. Such is the question, How does one become enlightened? First, a little of Buddhism 101. Then I want to end not with how to get enlightened but with what we have to become enlightened about. Siddhartha never set out to get just enlightened. Rather, he set out to find the end of suffering and more to the point, he set out to search for the unborn, the undying, the unsorrowful, the stainless, the completely secure ( Ariyapariyesana Sutta ). At this time in India there were many so-called isms just like in ancient Greece. There were numerous speculative philosophies, asceticism, skepticism, materialism, hedonism, and much more. None of these isms Siddhartha concluded, who tried some of them, brought an end to the problem of suffering. Even practicing strenuous austerities for six years, brought no answer. Finally, one day Siddhartha remembered as a young boy meditating ( dhyna ) in a farmer...

A few days ago, I wrote about the Japanese Soto Shu's questionable disaster fundraising decisions. This story, about a Soto Zen priest staying in his temple not too far from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors, offers a few additional points I'd like to make about Soto's Shu's decision. Mita is a kindly, round-faced man in his late sixties, and is not concerned with his own safety. His jobto tend to anyone who is suffering and in need of comfortis a growth area in a shattered economy. I would only leave if I were the last person standing in this town, he says. Fear of radiation may make his prediction a reality. The temple, which is of the Sotoshu or Zen sect, is located about twenty-five miles from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The temples precise distance from the plant places it in bureaucratic limbo: outside the mandatory twelve-mile evacuation zone imposed by Japanese authorities, and just beyond the twelve-to-nineteen mile stay indoors z...

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truthnot going all the way, and not starting. ~Buddha Post written by Leo Babauta . How do you start something new? Whether its beginning an exercise program, getting going with a task you want to complete, or creating a new business or product from scratch how do you get started? Its one of the most intimidating things. Its the lack of starting that kills most tasks and projects. Procrastination is putting off the start. Your new venture gets put off because the start is too hard. How I Started When I started Zen Habits, I had no idea how to start. I looked at other blogs and it was intimidating what theyd accomplished: not only thousands of readers but hundreds of articles, a killer blog design, their own domain name, all kinds of services and ebooks and T-shirts and other things going on. I couldnt do all that I had a job (two actually) and a family with six kids. So I skipped it all and did one thing: I chose a random name tha...

" Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

To begin to answer the great question of what is born, decays and dies requires of us a very careful introspective examination. Some Zennists firmly believe the Buddha-nature gets born, decays and dies which means for them samsara is nirvana. But the Buddha-nature has never been born as something conditioned. So how can it decay, eventually to die? What actually gets born, decays and then dies is the Five Aggregates consisting of form, feelings, perception, volitional formations, and sensory consciousness. But let me pause here. At this point we have to do some deep, profound thinking. Although it is the Five Aggregates that are born, decay, and then die does this mean that we die as well? The answer is, of course, no. We only seem to be born, decay, and then die because we blindly cling to the Five Aggregates as if there is nothing else besides. Now we come to the place that separates the worldling ( prithagjana ) from the Bodhisattva. The worldling, and even the worldling Buddhists...

Over at the blog Recovering Yogi is an excellent post by Kimberly Johnson about the excessive positivity found in many yoga communities. It's also a problem in Buddhist sanghas, and other spiritual groups, and one I have written about before. That secret code is the code of constant positivity within the yoga community. In the yoga world, you are not supposed to disagreeeven though everybody doesand you certainly are not supposed to be disagreeable. Of course, most people have strong opinions about which kind of yoga is better (their kind) and what the other schools dont understand, because if they did, clearly they would convert to the right school. The right thing, in yoga, is always the thing that you do. But most people dont express it openly. Better to feign peaceful coexistence and call it acceptance. However, I have found both in myself and in my peers a lack of courage to engage in truthful dialogue around teaching philosophy and practice. I didnt have the nerve to tell my...

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, This morning I woke stiff and a little sore. I lanced two blisters and taped them. Today was a arm and shoulder workout, which I did with a little lighter weights than usual, and only did two sets each of the exercises in my plan, plus my normal ab workout. After this, Kathryn and I went for a 1.5 mile desert jog. A little light stretching and I am feeling much better. I went over to son Jasons and borrowed back my Trek bike, washed and lubed it, and then waxed the frame. It looks pretty nice. Kathryn and I will do a little riding soon. We sat down yesterday afternoon and looked at some up-coming charity races. We think we will do the Iron Bunny (5k) in El Paso toward the end of April (supports ALS disease association) and a Run for Public Health (8k) in May, which supports the Wounded Warrior Project. So, if anyone wants to join Team Zen to benefit these causes, let us know. At our post race dinner last night we found Student Alice had, inde...

" Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

With palms together, Good Afternoon Everyone, This morning Student Yubao and I lined up in the chaos of the White Sands Missile Ranges Bataan Death March Memorial race with 6500 marchers. We could not find Student Alice and neither of us had her cell number. The wind was horrible, gusting easily into the 40 MPH range, and steady at 20-25 MPH. It was chilly and dark. The wind made fast work of Yubaos hat which he bought on our last long hike through the desert. As the start time approached, after the Star-Spangled Banner was sung by singer Ricky Lee, the announcer did a Roll Call of those Bataan Survivors present and ones who died over the year since the last March. Three survivors voiced Here! There was an eerie silence as the deceased were called out. A fly-over by the Air Force ended the opening ceremonies and the cannon blasted our start. I felt great. The weather got better as the sun rose over the mountains. The huge crowded field made it seem easy to get through the first two mil...

" The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Samsara and nirvana are not in anyway separate like two physical objects. In a way, they coexist in the same moment like wave and water or ripples and water. Despite this inseparableness, the consciousness of sentient beings is almost always locked onto samsaratotally constrained by it. In early Buddhism, consciousness also seems to be the surviving factor which re-enters (or perhaps better, interfaces with) womb/embryo after womb/embryo ( gabbha gabbham ) in which repeated births are undergone, this being samsara. It is through the purification of mind ( citta ) in which its non-perturbed, pure nature is immediately beheld that consciousness is suddenly conscious of nirvana ( tathata , etc.) which is free of samsara. Now consciousness is no longer constrained by samsara. It is aware of something else. The Buddhist adept is, for the first time, conscious of absolute Minds purity which is without any perturbations. From the aforementioned, we could say that nirvana is samsara when there...

Jundo Cohen from the online zendo Treeleaf, and who lives not too far from the worst hit areas in Japan during the earthquake and tsunami, is trying to get the word out about the current actions of the Japanese Soto-shu . As the head organization of the Japanese Soto Zen sanghas, and which also has offices in North and South America, and in Europe, it's an organization with a lot of potential to be doing beneficial work for those currently suffering in Japan. However, it seems they have chosen to focus internally. They have decided to "re-donate" 70% of incoming funds for earthquake relief to the Red Cross, and use the remaining 30% to repair/rebuild temples. Now this isn't an organization lacking in people or resources. As Jundo writes: However, I am also sure that the Soto-shu in Japan, with its 14,000 affiliated temples nationwide, universities with medical and dental schools, thousands of priests and lay followers, substantial financial and material resources, co...

It is the Unformed, the Unconditioned, the End, the Truth, the Other Shore, the Subtle, the Everlasting, the Invisible, the Undiversified, Peace, the Deathless, the Blest, Safety, the Wonderful, the Marvelous, Nirvana, Purity, Freedom, the Island, the Refuge, the Beyond. (Samyutta Nikaya 43: 1-44) We continue our reflections on the Buddhas above description of awakening, or enlightenment, by examining Purity and Freedom. The heart of these reflections are not the words themselves, nor the exercises imbedded in the text, but the experience to which they point. That the Buddha used so many different and differing words to describe awakening he used many more than in the above paragraph reveals the diverse expressions of it, and the many Dharma Gates to enter it. Hopefully, we may stroll through such a Gate together and bask on the other Shore, in the Everlasting contentment of enlightenment. Purity (Suddhi) Buddhism has been defined as the Path to Purification (Visuddhimagga in Pali...

"If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater." ~The Buddha Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

There is nothing that reminds me more of anicca (imperm anence) at this time of year than the weather. Lots of grey and wet on the west coast this winter, so when the sun shone Wednesday we knew just what we needed to do. We tied on our hiking boots and went in search of the waterfall that we've heard so much about. Just down the road, you'll hear it at this time of year, we'd been told. There is nothing quite so restorative as a walk in nature, a place where it is easy to "just be", a place to slow down and experience a contemplative state of mind. Too often we forget these simple pleasures, the smell of outdoor air, the feel of our muscles as we walk, a little bird song, the sound of a woodpecker working away on a dead tree. And when the sun has been MIA for some time, as it seems to have been this winter, we really notice our appreciation for the small pleasures of it's return(like a good friend who has been on a long holiday). So we savoured the warmt...