Staying in the Train Station

Non-conceptual awareness has been compared to a person standing in a train station, and discursive thoughts have been compared to the trains that enter and leave the station. When thoughts rumble through the train station of the mind, awareness usually jumps on board and rides away. Many of us spend our entire adult lives caught up in the fantasies, reflections, and other ideas, which appear and disappear in our minds. The practice of non-conceptual awareness entails learning to stand in the train station and watch the trains come and go without jumping on board.
It requires considerable practice to watch thoughts appear and disappear without becoming attached to them. Nevertheless, when we are finally able to remain free of thoughts, then waking up from our culturally indoctrinated perception of the world becomes possible. Only when there is a significant degree of internal detachment, silence, and clarity does it become possible to penetrate our ideas of time, space, and thing–ness and discover the reality that underlies human conception.
Unfortunately, the habit of attaching to thoughts is very powerful. A forty year-old person has probably spent thirty five years intensely practicing that habit, so it should not be surprising that several years of practicing a different mental habit may be necessary to change our method of perception. In fact, when we first begin practicing, we have great difficulty even remembering to practice. Repeatedly we wake up far away and must remember to get off the train and return to the station. We have to leave our fantasies, reflections, and ideas behind and re-focus our attention upon what is happening in the immediate moment. As time goes by, however, we remember more and more often to return to the station and the train rides become shorter and shorter. With sustained practice, we begin to spend more time in the train station than riding the trains and it becomes possible to perceive the world of God that is ordinarily hidden by conventional thinking habits.
Rather than becoming silent and discovering what is inside the train station, we usually become hypnotized by our ideas and beliefs. We stay so occupied and distracted by our thoughts, even our religious thoughts, that we have no psychological silence or power of insight to penetrate our illusions. With sufficient practice, however, it is possible to wake up and discover the astonishing truth.
There is only one thing in the train station, but what is it? What is it that sees the thoughts that appear and disappear on the screen of the mind? Christ said that we must leave ourselves behind and discover our True Self, but what is our True Self?
In fact, we are not who we imagine ourselves to be. To discover who we really are, we must let go of the thoughts in our mind. We must wake up and discover who is standing in the train station. That which causes our blood to circulate, our lungs to breathe, and our brain to think does not have a name like Betty, Bill, Jane, or Carol. With sufficient effort, we can discover the one thing that has no name.

Western Dharma

I was going through a collection of comments by Zen Master Seung Sahn that was sent to me by Mu Sang Sunim. It struck me that we all need someone to help us see the way to through the unveiled truth. It has been the purview of masters since time immemorial.

The teachers who came from the west, Suzuki Roshi, Trungpa Rinpoche, Maezumi Roshi, Samu Sunim, Zen Master Seung Sahn, Thich Nhat Hahn, MahaGhosanada, Katigiri Roshi, Matsuoku Roshi, Eido Roshi and Sasaki Roshi have left an indelible impact on the western students of Buddhism.

These teachers have been so precious to the Dharma's unfolding in the west, and thinking that we would be where we are without each of their independent dedication is silly, because we have all learned from them.

I haven't mentioned Robert Aitken Roshi, who had been the perfect American Zen Master incarnate. Thank goodness that our first archetype was so centered and aware.

I pay homage to the multitude of teachers who have transmitted the dharma since time immemorial. Thanks for the transmission, may we hear you all loud and clear.

Brad Warner is giving a Dharma Talk at Dharma Zen Center FEB. 1st

HARDCORE ZEN: FIELD TRIP REPORT and CHANGES IN SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE and TALK AT DHARMA ZEN CENTER FEB. 1st: "I'm a Zen monk, writer, bass player and film-maker. I wrote the books Hardcore Zen and Sit Down And Shut Up. My third book, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, will be out in February, 2009. My Zen pedigree, for those who value such things, is that I received Dharma Transmission from Gudo Nishijima Roshi, who received his transmission from Rempo Niwa Roshi who, at the time was the head of the Soto Sect in Japan. I was also a student of Tim McCarthy, who was a student of Kobun Chino Roshi."

a small world

This morning I was going through all the blogs that I read and I came across some comments from http://naturalwisdom.blogspot.com/ and Jihyang Padme mentioned being in Pacific Palisades. She lives in Cambridge Mass. so I thought to myself that it would be nice to run into her while she is out, I hadn't seen her in quite a few years.

I decided to meet with Mu Sang Sunim at Dharma Zen Center this afternoon to catch up with him. We went to Starbucks and were talking. I was talking about blogs I read and mentioned about Jihang's comment. He looked at me and said, yes she is staying at the Zen Center. We went out for dinner and when we got back to the Zen Center, there she was.

Its a smaller world with our community being connected this way. Just thought I'd pass this along.

I guess he's already become an action hero

Dàhuì Zōnggăo

Dàhuì Zōnggăo (1089–1163) was the 12th generation of Chán masters in the Línjì tradition. Línjì, whose teacher was Huángbò Xīyùn. Dàhuì advocated kōan practice as the quickest way to enlightenment, but he suppressed his own teacher's collection of teaching stories (Blue Cliff Record) because it had become ostensibly used as intellectual study material. He was a vigorous critic of the Cáodòng tradition, which he termed "the heretical Chán of silent illumination."

Even though hundreds of kōans were available in his time, Dàhuì seemed to use only a few in his instruction. In this respect he was in perfect agreement with his own teacher, Yuánwù, as well as other Chán masters who insisted that it was through the thorough penetration into a few kōans or even into only one that enlightenment was to be attained. Dàhuì always carried a bamboo comb when he taught his students. He would say to them:

“If you call this a bamboo comb, you are wrong. If you don’t call this a bamboo comb, you are wrong also. Don’t say anything, but also don’t remain silent. You must not think, you must not guess. You are not allowed to get up and leave the room. Nothing you do is appropriate. If you want to grab the bamboo comb, go ahead, grab it. I will then use my fist and demand you to make a statement. If you want me to put down my fist, that is all right too. But then I ask you to make a statement about the whole world. Now, can you also take that away? Once a monk compared me to an official who asked for more things after he had confiscated someone’s entire property. I like this comparison very much. Indeed I want you to hand over everything. When you have nowhere to go, you will simply have to die. Throwing yourself into the river or jumping into fire, you will die when you are ready to die. Only after you have truly died will you gradually come to life again.”

The bamboo comb, like the stick used by Deshan, is a visual haut’ou which serves to cut off conceptual thinking and verbal definition. It stops all mental activities from evolution and development. It reveals the original Mind of non-discrimination and non-duality.

Adolescents

I was reading Brad Warner's latest blog and he has posted a video of the Monks. I was thinking about an old friend of mine, from my younger days and decided to search youtube for him. Rikk Agnew was the lead guitarist for the Adolescents and Christian Death. Anyway I found this video from a few years ago and they are playing one of their Punk anthems, Amoeba. Not sure if it is every one's taste, but this is my roots.

I met with a few old friends this weekend, Thom Pastor, JDPSN, Paul Park, JDPSN, Bridgette Duff, SDPS and Musang Sunim. Haven't really hung out with these guys in many years and it was good to reconnect with some very dear and old friends.

Ours pasts don't define us unless we allow them to; yet it is good remember where we came from sometimes on this strange trip that we have come to call life.

Stand by me

My daughter-in-law's Mother sent me a link to this video. I loved it so much I had to share with all of you.

Nurat Fateh Ali Kahn

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Urdu: نصرت فتح على خاں, October 13, 1948 – August 16, 1997), was a Pakistani musician, primarily a singer of Qawwali which is the devotional songs and poems of the Sufis (a mystical tradition within Islam). He featured in Time magazine's 2006 list of 'Asian Heroes'. Among other honorary titles bestowed upon him, Nusrat was called Shahenshah-e-Qawwali, meaning The Emperor of Qawwali. He teamed up with western Singers Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder to do some very interesting collaborative works. With all the tensions between the Arab world and the West I thought I'd post one of the Arabs worlds jewels, who spread love, devotion and kindness during his life.

Sound and Noise

this video stands by itself, our great ancestor Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

On Death and Dying

A very old man who had lived a fruitful life was now on his death bed. He had already been read his last rights and was suffering from excruciating pain. While contemplating his last minutes on earth he suddenly smells the aroma of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies coming from outside his bedroom.

He thinks to himself, "my wonderful wife is baking my favorite cookies as a sentiment to our final hours together." He gathers together what little strength he has remaining in his weakened body and drags himself out of bed.

Fighting off the pain and weakness, he drags his frail body into the hallway, toward the kitchen door. When he gets to the kitchen he sees a plate of chocolate chip cookies, the steam rising from the plate, he can smell the delectable chocolate chips and he imagines that they still soft and gooey. He thinks, "God bless my devoted wife for giving me such pleasure in my final hours on this earth", so he crawls towards the cookies.

He arrives at the base of the table and, with the last ounce of strength he has remaining, reaches up with his hand to take a cookie. Just then, he feels the stinging Whack! of a metal spatula against his knuckles. He screams as he sees his wife standing over him; "WHYYYYYY?

She says to him rather indignantly, "Because I baked them for the funeral!"

a moment

it is within a moment,
or a sideways glance.
we are moved to silence
in the midst of the chatter.
why would one
come to exclude the
presence that always is?
for you
and for me,
we must know
beyond the mundane
existence that we call life.
we are here
to teach love
and life and grace,
and the rest of what
we thought was important
can be dumped into
the trash heap of humanity.

Heaven and Hell

Once there was a general of the imperial Japanese army, a brave samurai, who wanted to learn the essence of Zen. He sought out the advice of the renowned Zen Master Matsuo Bashô who lived alone in a mountain hut. He approached the master as he was meditating on a rock, and asked him, “What is the difference between heaven and hell, honorable master?”

Bashô stood up and spat in the general’s face. The general was astonished and overcome with rage. He unsheathed his long sword and raised it, determined to slice off the Zen Master’s head.

Bashô lifted his finger and said, “You are now at the gates of hell.” The general’s face relaxed and he lowered the sword. Bashô continued, “You are now at the gates of heaven.” The general became a disciple of master Bashô and eventually achieved true awakening.

This story raises and important question. Are we controlled by our situation, relationship and condition, or are we in control of our situation, relationship and condition. Do you control your thinking or does your thinking control you? If you can’t answer yes to this question, then more practice is necessary.

Great Vows: Establishing our Direction

If we aspire to set out upon the course of Zen practice we must first make our commitment clear. This is why taking vows are very important; however, don’t delude yourself in thinking that you are making these vows with a Zen Teacher, with a Zen Sangha or even with the Buddha himself. These vows are actually a compact with ourselves. It might clarify this point by saying that religious practices usually have as their focus external issues about proper behavior and rules of worship; consequently, it is easy to confuse why we are behaving a particular way or following certain rules by thinking we are doing it for Buddha or Jesus or even God. This is why spiritual teachers are always very clear about this point; the focus of everything that we do is to clarify our own mistaken views. Zen practice, as with all religious practices, has rules, precepts, rituals and liturgy; it is just that in Zen we are taught not to attach to these rules, precepts, ritual and liturgy. It is our job, if we want to be Zen students, to clarify the reasons why we follow these rules, precepts, rituals and liturgy and once we completely attain them we can instantly become free of them. So, if we want to truly become Zen students we must first make our direction clear by taking great vows.

The Four Great Vows

Sentient beings are numberless;
We vow to save them all.

Delusions are endless;
We vow to cut through them all.

The teachings are infinite;
We vow to learn them all.

The Buddha way is inconceivable;
We vow to attain it.

If you read these vows carefully, you will realize that they are actually impossible or at least unattainable aspirations. So, if all of this is really impossible, what are we to do? My Grand-teacher put it this way, “try, try, try, for ten thousand years non-stop, get enlightenment and save all beings from suffering.”