Zen Everyday

Yoga Madness!

2011-06-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

With more and more scientific studies showing the health benefits of yoga and meditation, it becomes rather encouraging to the zen/buddhist/or even secular practitioner.

Personally, I don't have enough money for a class. If you do, take advantage of it and find a school in your area that is both comfortable, friendly, and pushes your physically. "You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state. ~Sharon Gannon" So, because I cannot afford a class, I use a variety of free online and iphone (ipod Touch) apps.

If you have some basic knowledge of yoga, this can work for you. If you are a complete beginner, try to find a very cheap class at a local university's recreation center or at a community center. The teachers are often friendly and still qualified. I got my start with a, free for students, course at The University of South Alabama. It was 7am yoga and it was outside (summer of course). By 8, it was 80 degrees and we were sweating more from the yoga than from the heat. It was a great introduction.

I will post more on iphone/pod/pad apps later. Right now, I want to focus on 2 online resources that I have found particularly helpful. Free yoga instruction videos from Esther Ekhart and Tara Stiles.

Esther Ekhart runs Yogatic.com and is my top choice. It is a free website with free videos made available via youtube. However, if you don't want to spend a long time searching youtube for everything, just visit the site. Esther is a fully qualified yoga instructer with over 15 years experience. She has a soothing voice (to me) and provides nice-flowing routines. With Esther Ekhart, it's clear that it's about living yoga, not just having it sectioned off to 15 minutes-1hour of your life. I highly recommend checking out her site. If you don't want to hop on the web every time you want to do yoga, she does have a DVD available (or if you're sneaky, there are a multitude of website out there that allow you to save youtube videos to your computer, but I didn't telly you).

Right now, she's featuring Summer Yoga Workout at Yogatic.

I wouldn't call it my back-up option, because the routines are really great (though a little fast for my taste), but Tara Stiles is my next choice for free online yoga instruction. Her videos can be found on a Blip.tv site. Here is the full url: http://a.blip.tv/yoga-other-useful-stuff-with-tara-stiles I very much enjoy her videos, and if you prefer to speed things up, she is the way to go.

She also has a DVD available. More importantly, if you're an iphone/pod/pad junkie like me, she has a free video podcast available. Check it out here To date, it has 68 free videos available for your device. .

Buddhism in Five Minutes! ... ?

2011-05-31T08:54:00.000-05:00

Here's an excerpt. You can view the original posting on BuddhaNet.net or click "continue reading" below to view it on this site.

• What is Buddhism?

Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened (enlightened) at the age of 35.

• Is Buddhism a Religion?

To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as:

(1) to lead a moral life,
(2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and
(3) to develop wisdom and understanding.

• How Can Buddhism Help Me?

Buddhism explains a purpose to life, it explains apparent injustice and inequality around the world, and it provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness.

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Ethics and the New Millennium

2011-05-30T22:59:00.000-05:00

No commentary today.

Sitting is Slow Suicide - How Sitting Can Help Kill You!

2011-05-09T19:17:00.002-05:00

From MedicalBillingandCoding.org

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Free Online Storage Space

2011-05-01T04:55:00.000-05:00

For a couple years now, I have been using a service called Dropbox.

It is free online file storage and, quite honestly, it has no strings attached. There are no ads, the program is free and the space is free. You start off with 2gb free space, but can get 250 more by completing a tour, uploading a file, and a couple other really easy things. There is a free iphone app.

Here is my angle. For every person you invite (and they sign up) both parties are awarded an extra 250mb free. So, if you click this link and sign up, we will both get free extra storage. I think that would be great.

That is what I would like. I am not in the habit of using this blog to solicit anything. However, the benefit I receive from this is equal to the benefit you will receive. In addition, you will be getting a free place to back up files.

I use it to keep copies of my license, ss card, passport, and many other important documents.

So, if you want, please use my link and sign up for dropbox. It will be good for us both :)
Thank you,

Brandon

http://db.tt/xNVMThT

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Thought - Dalai Lama

2011-04-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

No commentary today.

A Different Kind of Zen

2011-04-12T09:13:00.002-05:00

"I like to cook. I will share what I have, and hope you like it. "

Everyone finds their piece of zen in a different place.

What about in the kitchen?

For a good friend of mine, cooking is his passions. Sharing food, drink, and conversation with friends is a way of life and he is an expert.

View his cooking blog below:

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Samatha Buddhist Chants

2011-04-06T23:30:00.003-05:00

From Samatha.org

These chants are great. Check them out and support samatha.org

Chants To Play And Download

Download	Name	Play	Size	Length
	Bhavatu sabbamaṅgalaṃ (a blessing) (Samatha Chanters)		1 MB	1:05 min
	Bojjhaṅgaparitta (Samatha Chanters)		4.1 MB	4:28 min
	Buddhamaṅgalagāthā (Samatha Chanters)		3.3 MB	3:39 min
	Iti pi so (Samatha Chanters)		2.7 MB	2:57 min
	Maṅgala Sutta (Samatha Chanters)		3.7 MB	4:02 min
	Metta Sutta (Samatha Chanters)		2.9 MB	3:10 min

If you would like to learn more about samatha meditation, check out samatha.org and this article from NPR: Even Beginners Can Curb Pain With Meditation

Finding Happiness in Troubled Times - Dalai Lama

2011-03-31T22:38:00.003-05:00

His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

These ARE troubled times.

We're in a global economic recession, joblessness and homelessness are high, we have violence/unrest in several countries, and natural devastation in Japan. There are other troubles too: America leads the world in obesity; gun violence is common, corporate greed is hurting the worker, corporate-caused environmental disasters destroy natural habitats in addition to other industries. People are losing their jobs, homes, health coverage, and their hope.

It is difficult to remain positive, loving, and sincere in a world with so many problems. Every day people are starving, being raped, murdered, oppressed. And, to be truthful, there really isn't much anyone can do about it.

This is where mindfulness becomes most important. We cannot save the world. We can, however, be the kind of people that are worth saving. Being mindful of our actions, big and small, can make a difference in our lives and the lives of those in our communities. By living a sincere and good life, we will be able to make a positive difference around us--and, maybe, help them to create positive change in their own lives.

Please enjoy this lecture by the Dalai Lama, and remember that we're all in this together.

Hiking in Asahata, Shizuoka City, Japan

2011-03-27T02:07:00.001-05:00

I went hiking today and made two short, impromptu video blogs to share. I hope you enjoy the videos and the scenery and can appreciate my kind of zen.

Video I

Video II

My full album of pictures can be found on PicasaWeb HERE!

Japan, Delays, and Renewed Determination

2011-03-24T08:58:00.001-05:00

Zen, in the sense of this blog, is a lifestyle and it is not the same for everyone. Personally, I find my peace while gardening and hiking. My friend Chris (Ceebs) finds his peace practicing Tai Chi. I would like to, in addition to posting traditional examinations of Zen and meditation, introduce a more personal element and further explore our own living koans.

I am currently living in Japan.
Things have been crazy here, but last week I was able to go to my sister's wedding, in Auburn, Alabama; and see my fiancée for the first time in four months. I am not scared of the radiation or of more earthquakes. I'm terrified of earthquakes, don't get me wrong, but I am more concerned about a tragedy that seems, to me, more definite and equally devastating--the apathy that so plagues American culture. Japan is a long-time ally and our economies help each other immensely. However, Americans have a long history of stopping aid when it is still desperately needed. I was on the Gulf Coast for Katrina and the BP/DeepWater Horizion oil spill. There are still many unresolved problems from Katrina. From the oil spill, there is still oil in the Gulf--it hasn't gone away (according to research)--in addition, the debilitation economic effects are still crippling the Gulf Coast. My fear is that Japan's severe need for help will soon be forgotten with the release of a new Taylor Swift album or the next Harry Potter movie.

Please, please, do not forget Japan. If you can afford to donate, please do so. The money is needed.

I was asked to write an op-ed for my city's paper. Here it is (on al.com)

The Japanese are 'calm and tenacious' in the face of disaster

As for this blog, unfortunately, it has fallen into a dormant state. I have promised to try to update it more. I have not really been true to the name Zen Everyday. Since October, I have been in Japan and have not looked at the blog until someone commented recently. If you're still with us, thank you. If you're new, welcome and please check out the old posts.

Blog Action Day 2010: WATER

2010-10-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

Change.org|Start Petition

Our Common Humanity

2010-09-07T01:01:00.000-05:00

The healing power of humility when pride wounds the soul

2010-09-02T14:18:00.004-05:00

I realize this is a Zen/Buddhist Blog so I hope no one is offended by sharing Christian teachings. I think these ideals fall under Buddhism too so I though I'd share. This is an article from http://www.greenwichcitizen.com/opinion/article/The-healing-power-of-humility-when-pride-wounds-642592.php by: Rev. Dr. James B. Lemler
"Pride goeth before a fall."
-- Proverbs 16:18

The Book of Proverbs is part of the Wisdom writing of the Hebrew Scriptures. Its counsel, like that of similar books of the Old Testament, is that pride can be debilitating and sometimes fatal for human beings.
As an heir to this tradition, Jesus of Nazareth also taught about the dangers of pride as he extolled the gift and virtue of humility. His life and ministry were models of humble service and love. From his perspective, pride wounded the soul, while humility nourished it.
Now please understand, the warning against pride is not an invitation to deny our worth, goodness or value as human beings. Neurotic self-denial or self-deprecation is not what is being recommended here.
Pride seeks to dominate the world and others. It destroys our flexibility and capacity for relationship.
Pride does go before a fall. I recently read the commentary by a highly regarded expert on man-made disasters about the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the fellow called in when something goes terribly wrong. He admits that there is human error and mistakes.
But he suggests that if you scratch the surface of most human-generated disasters, you find something else at play: pride, arrogance, and indolence.
It's good to remind ourselves of that when we look at the recent crisis in the Gulf or observe the fifth anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Yes, a hurricane is a natural disaster to be sure, but considering the improperly constructed levees and the inadequate government response - well, pride goes before a fall.
The same is true in human life. Pride, not self-respect, self-esteem, or self-worth can precede a terrible fall. It keeps us from forgiving others or asking for forgiveness.
It creates the myth that we are superior rather than allowing us to be connected to and in relationship with other human beings. It prompts us to hoard things and create illusions of grandeur. The results of pride are delusion, isolation and brokenness.
The wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures and of the teaching of Jesus offers something much, much more life-giving: the virtue of humility. It gives us the flexibility of not having to be right all the time or superior to everyone else. It opens the ways of service and stewardship rather than demand and hoarding. It can overcome stubbornness with openness and replace isolation with relationship.
What a gift. So, if pride goes before a fall... humble service and love go before a renewed and hopeful life.
This is a friend of mine Jenn, with one of her campers at Camp Smile, http://www.campsmilemobile.com/ which is hosted by United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Mobile. I didn't get a chance to meet Jenn's camper, so I can't remember her name, but I do know that this woman was paralyzed as an adult in a serious accident. Jenn has been volunteering at Camp Smile for many summers and I have three other close friends who have been volunteering here for years too; I admire their dedication. Also, my boyfriend Justo volunteered this summer for the very first time and learned many valuable lessons from spending time with the campers. One of which is to be grateful for what we have and not complain when life gets tough, but be strong in the face of adversity.

The Old Wisdom by Jane Goodall

2010-09-01T09:07:00.004-05:00

When the night wind makes the pine trees creak
And the pale clouds glide across the dark sky,
Go out, my child, go out and seek
Your soul: the Eternal I.

For all the grasses rustling at your feet
And every flaming star that glitters high
Above you, close up and meet
In you: the Eternal I.

Yes, my child, go out into the world; walk slow
And silent, comprehending all, and by and by
Your soul, the Universe, will know
Itself: the Eternal I.

Nurturing the Eco-Psyche

2010-08-31T14:05:00.005-05:00

The word psyche comes from the Greek and means "soul" or "mind" or the "breath of life." Much of what informs beliefs is the unconscious. Core beliefs are "core" precisely because they were formed early in our lives, well before the rational aspects of the brain came online. They create our most basic personality traits and habits. Core beliefs can be worked with but it takes awareness, time, and energy.

It's our thinking that creates addiction to luxurious levels of personal comfort, to superiority complexes, and to the most dangerous belief of them all: that we are separate from each other and from nature. Our thinking that has created the different crises we face today - environmental, economic, and social.

The study of the human-nature split is the territory of ecopsychology. For over thirty years I've been interested in the question of why we are destroying our own life support system and so much of what is beautiful in the world. Ecopsychologists argue that the answer lies in the human-nature split. We are not separate from nature but we think and act as if we are. Such a split leaves us homeless in a very fundamental way. Out of that homelessness springs insecurity and insatiable appetites that may soothe but never alleviate the deep-seated loneliness, emptiness, and fear we experience. The human-nature split is the primary wound, the "original trauma," to use Chellis Glendinning's phrase, that must be healed if we are to find our way to sustainable lives and societies.

To be sure, separating, or to use the psychological term, individuating, is thought to be an important and natural part of growing up for human beings. It's part of the work of childhood and adolescence. But problems arise when development gets stuck there. Much of the work of adulthood lies in expanding one's circle of identity by experiencing and understanding the interrelationships between and interdependence of things. Individuality not only remains, it's strengthened by the process of embracing diversity and the interconnected nature of reality. We appreciate ourselves and our unique place in the scheme of things in a more profound way, and at the same time appreciate and respect all other beings more deeply as well. The move toward healing the human-nature split expands the sense of self in the direction of an eco- or ecological self, a self that includes nature in its circle of identity.

Developing the eco-self begins with a basic humility. Intellectual understanding can support the process but it ultimately requires direct experience. The human-nature split mirrors the mind-body-spirit split. The result is that huge portions of our experience and awareness is numbed and repressed. I know the truth of such limitation from my own life. Everything from my disregard for certain insects I come into contact with, to the numbness in my response to the massive oil release in the Gulf, remind me of how much more work I have to do. So while many of us may feel like we get the whole nature thing, we love nature and animals, there is still a basic separateness in play.

As if this weren't already a high enough bar, there's an additional step that's even more challenging. Working to expand one's sense of identity, to develop the eco-self, sets the stage for an even more radical and spiritual experience of oneness - that of No Self. The concept of No Self speaks to the nondual nature of reality known to many if not all of the wisdom traditions. The renowned Buddhist monk and peacemaker Thich Nhat Hanh coined the word interbeing to describe this reality. Everything that exists owes its existence to other "things." If we consider the human being deeply enough we can see that we are utterly dependent on sun, rain, soil, mountains, rivers, plants, animals, air, etc. We simply would not be here without the elements, processes, and other things of the world. Buddhist teaching, for example, explains that everything manifest co-arises with, and is dependent upon, everything else. There is no solid and independent self, to believe otherwise is delusion.

The implications for activism of such a deeply interconnected and spiritual understanding of reality are vast. In obliterating the notion of separateness, enemy images and ideas of "us versus them" fall away. Political action becomes about relationship building and defeating injustice as opposed to defeating people.

The work of expanding and then dissolving the selfish side of self is work with the psyche. Because such work is not generally encouraged in the West, we find ourselves handicapped. The connection between adulthood and engaging in a process of becoming increasingly conscious is not readily apparent on the newstands, on TV, and in our educational and political systems. And yet for us Westerners, since we have wounds unique to our industrial and technological context, it seems that work with the psyche is especially critical. The idea that working proactively with the psyche is critical to our health and well-being, even our survival, does indeed set the bar high.

So if psyche is important, what might a healthy, proactive response to that understanding look like? Such a response might begin with slowing down enough to notice our habitual responses to things, to that bug crawling on your arm, to that driver that pissed you off. If we can be compassionate with ourselves we might build self-awareness and compassion for others in the process. We might start to question the story of entitlement, superiority, and separateness. The real work begins when we stop pointing the finger at others and turn our attention inward toward ourselves, taking an honest look at our behavior and the thoughts behind it. Gandhi's dictum "Be the change you want to see in the world", is famous because of the depth of truth it reveals.

Maturation is a process. The work of bringing understanding and compassion to the small self and cultivating a more expansive self is never done. Think of the small self as the childlike self, the ego self. With the small self everything boils down to personal needs and security. Coming from the small self many Americans will support - whether expressly or tacitly - not only offshore oil drilling but also coal mining, new nuclear power plants, and other technologies which promise to perpetuate ease and comfort. Concern over the consequences for other peoples and species will continue to be, at best, a minor concern.

Whether we continue down a destructive path or change course, the psyche will be intimately involved. Lasting behavioral change begins and ends with the psyche. The big question is not who holds elected office or how effective conservation programs are, both leave the basic addiction to fossil fuels intact. The question is: What are the key elements of a resilient foundation for a sustainable and life-affirming society? One critical element, I believe, is the inner resilience that only work with the psyche can bring.

Written by: Scott Brown in a news article on countercurrents.org

Photo Caption: I took this at the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, MS. It is thought to be his daughter depicted as the MS River.

Article of Interest- Quantum Consciousness: Empathy and Entanglement

2010-08-23T17:44:00.002-05:00

It is fair to say that our global civilization now finds itself at a critical crossroads of development, in terms of natural resources, material systems, and modes of thinking -- a physical and psychical criticality. It thus becomes imperative that we orientate our perceptive faculties in favour of the potential evolutionary transformation of human consciousness...
Due to initial conditionings early on in life, each receptor becomes wired to perceive a particular wave frequency. As the brain's receptors tune-in to a particular pattern of frequency waves, a "pattern recognition" response is received by the brain and interpreted according to the perceptions allotted to the frequency. In other words, the act of tuning in involves picking up familiar frequency patterns out of the ocean of frequencies that surround us constantly. By tuning into the same patterns again and again we are reinforcing a particular reality-set. We are thus tuning into a consensus reality pattern unconsciously and forming our perceptions continually from this. Unfamiliar patterns often get ignored since they do not fall within our receptor remit. Perceptions are thus formed moment by moment as the brain constantly scans the bands of frequencies that surround us; yet we are often unaware that we are filtering from a limited set of perceptual patterns. However, if this pattern-recognition behaviour does not evolve over time, our perceptual development is in danger of becoming stalled. The result is that we become fixed -- or trapped -- within a particular reality. This is why human development requires that we move through various paradigm shifts in order to evolve our collective thinking/perceptual patterns...
Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kingsley-dennis-phd/quantum-consciousness-2-e_b_687282.html?ir=Living
Even more reason to be calm, gentle and loving. We can affect more than we may realize. It starts from within.

Dalai Lama - Bodhi Tree

2010-08-18T10:33:00.002-05:00

His Holiness the Dalai Lama planting a sapling from the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya at Dagpo Shedrupling Monastery in Kais, near to Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India on August 17th, 2010. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL

New Sea Turtle Life

2010-08-16T15:10:00.002-05:00

the rainbow path, the milky way path
thunder clouds music
meteor turtles greet you brother and sister.
(re)born with the roaring flame
a game of hide and seek ensues.

By: Patrick Temme

I took part in a beautiful miracle this past week on Dauphin Island! With the help of many volunteers, 7 new baby loggerhead sea turtles were released into the Gulf and 17 were driven to Cape Canaveral, FL for release.

Where in the World Are the Buddhists?

2010-08-04T08:39:00.003-05:00

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Dalai Lama

2010-08-03T09:20:00.001-05:00

I posted a link of this the other day, but here's the picture I wanted you all to see.

I love the Dalai Lama. He is truly inspirational. He and Thich Nhat Hanh are my favorite teachers.

Namaste,

Brandon

P.S. I just got engaged last week. I'm very excited. In addition, I was just offered a teaching job in Japan. I'm leaving in a month. Be prepared for updates from Japan, with pictures from the local temples. ♥♥♥♥♥

Relax

2010-07-20T13:36:00.004-05:00

“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” William S. Burroughs

“And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” Chinese Proverb

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” Etty Hillesum

Thank you to enlightenyourday.com for these wonderful quotes! I sometimes get sudden anxiety and it's helpful to me to find peaceful reminders to get myself more relaxed.

Buddha on Family

2010-06-25T09:41:00.003-05:00

“Family” according to Buddhist social philosophy refers to the grouping of people living under the same roof. Typically a family, in this context, will consist of a married couple and their children and sometimes one or more grandparents. These people are tied by the same genetic material. We are all members of a family from the time of our birth till we die.

From this central meaning the concept is extended to include wider relatives, neighbours, friends, neighbours, community, society and ultimately to all humanity and all sentient beings.

Traditionally Buddhists regard the family unit as the core of the community and society and without a solid core made up of moral and ethical values, the community and society will suffer. If, at the family level, there is adherence to the Buddhist beliefs and teachings, then the community and society also adhere to them.

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma see no Dharma in everyday actions; they have not yet discovered that there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.
Thirteenth Century Zen Master Dogen

The Buddha talked of many ways that family life can lead to happiness and blessings:

Respecting and supporting one’s father and mother;
Loving one’s spouse and children;
Developing generosity and a sense of duty;
Selflessly helping relatives and acting blamelessly; and
Developing reverence, humility, contentment, gratitude and listening to the Dharma.

Many times it is easier said than done to maintain a sense of gratitude, loving-kindness, compassion, patience and a sense of calm, when we live in a family. We can read and study the Buddha’s teachings and think we ‘get it’, but when the frictions of family living rub on us we find we have not internalised the teachings – we are not as engaged as we would like to be.

Family Buddhism aims to support us all to use this ‘family rub’ to work towards our own enlightenment and the enlightenment of others. The focus is primarily on mindfulness and compassionate communication and on how to integrate compassion and wisdom in our family life.

What more wonderful blessing could we have than to have a human life and be part of a human family? What more wonderful opportunities to practice the Dharma and sow beneficial karmic seeds, could we have?

Off to visit my family for the weekend in my Mom's hometown of Auburn, NY-my uncle's getting married! The photo below is in Richmond after our Segway tour. I love the little boy-he really liked having his picture taken so I took some photos just for him after: )

trinity

2010-06-23T14:07:00.003-05:00

Inside out-
Upside dOwn.
Turnin it rouNd...
and roUnd.

You. Me. My Mind, our Minds.
Them. Their Minds.
Us. Our Minds.

River Flowin.
Tree photosynthesizin.
Moon Shinin.

Bumping,
crossing,
dialougin.
Loving,
strugglin,
trippin.

Rising,
Glorifying.

Internal transformation.
In the end
Always Loving.

One for all,
and all for one.

If you can see this, then enjoy.

2010-06-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=181361&id=339188887615#!/photo.php?pid=4459539&id=339188887615&fbid=402504862615

NPR.org - Too Big To Succeed May Be Our Biggest Problem

2010-06-15T17:57:00.005-05:00

Too Big To Succeed May Be Our Biggest Problem

Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, President Obama will tell us how Big Government is going to tackle another Big Problem in a Big Way.

The Gulf Coast oil gusher is like a big boxcar in a big runaway freight train of big, big problems: the financial industry, the health care industry, immigration policies — a linked chain of vast worriments hurtling through the contemporary landscape, seemingly out of control.

Consider these Big Numbers from the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center, courtesy of the White House: As of the night of June 14, more than 67 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline — in four states — were feeling the impact of the BP oil cataclysm, and about 78,000 square miles — roughly the size of Nebraska — of federal waters are closed to fishing.

EnlargeJustin Stumberg/AP/U.S. Navy

As the oil spread, authorities tried controlled burns.

To try to manage this Big Mess, the federal government has: called into service more than 17,000 National Guard troops, plus more than 25,000 other personnel, to battle the nonstop oil flow; deployed more than 5,400 vessels and vehicles, including tugboats and barges and aircraft and robotic devices, to try to contain and sop up the oil; laid out more than 5.5 million feet of boom to try to control the spreading slicks; dispensed some 1.26 million gallons of oil dispersant; set nearly 200 "controlled burn" fires.

Continue reading at NPR.org (LINK)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127853402&sc=emaf

Comments to follow tomorrow.

Altruism

2010-06-14T21:40:00.003-05:00

Being altruistic does not mean totally rejecting our own interest or neglecting ourselves, this is a misunderstanding. In fact, the kind of altruism that focuses on the well-being of others arises from a very courageous mind, an expansive attitude and a strong sense of self confidence - so much so that the person is capable of challenging the self-cherishing and self-centeredness that tends to rule our lives.
-Dalai Lama

To check out the Dalai Lama's facebook page, go here

Convergence

2010-06-13T10:46:00.001-05:00

"Although the world's religions may differ fundamentally from one other in their metaphysical views, when it comes to their teachings on the actual practice of ethics, there is great convergence. All the faith traditions emphasize a virtuous way of being, the purification of the mind from negative thoughts and impulses, the doing of good deeds, and living a meaningful life." Dalai Lama

Today

2010-06-07T10:22:00.001-05:00

The past is History
The future is a Mystery
This day is a Gift
That is why it is called
the PRESENT

This day is a special day, it is yours.
Yesterday slipped away, it cannot be filled anymore with meaning.
About tomorrow nothing is known.
But this day, today, is yours, make use of it.
Today you can make someone happy.
Today you can help another.
This day is a special day, it is yours.

Rainbow Meditation

2010-05-23T19:54:00.005-05:00

Feel your body becoming lighter and lighter. See all the color of the rainbow. Feel your body becoming all of the colors of the rainbow.
Slowly you are now giving out red color. Your whole body becomes red color. Feel yourself giving out energy and strenth. You are now full of energy and strenth.
Slowly you are now giving out orange color. Your whole body becomes orange color. Feel yourself giving out joy and happiness. You are now full of joy and happiness.
Slowly you are now giving out yellow color. Your whole body becomes yellow color. Feel yourself giving out intelligence. You are now full of intelligence.
Slowly you are now giving out green color. Your whole body becomes green color. Feel yourself giving out harmony and friendship. You are now full or harmony and friendship.
Slowly you are now giving out blue color. Your whole body becomes blue color. Feel yourself giving out peace. You are now full of peace.
Slowly you are now giving out indigo color. Your whole body becomes indigo color. Feel yourself giving out gentleness. You are now full of gentleness.
Slowly you are giving out violet color. Your whole body becomes violet color. Feel yourself giving out beauty and respect. You are now full of beauty and respect.

Feel yourself getting bigger and bigger, your colors going out further and further, until they cover up the whole room, then further until they cover the whole country, and still further until they cover the whole world.
As you spread all the colors, you are also spreading energy, happiness, intelligence, friendship, peace, gentleness, and beauty. You spread out even further and become even bigger. Now your colors of light are spreading throughout the whole universe. You are as big as the whole universe, your light shines out in every direction in space.
Slowly, all the colors changed into a stream of white light. This white light is now flowing down the top of your head down to your heart. Feel all the white light going into your heart.

Pray for Grace by Michael Franti & Spearhead

2010-05-17T10:29:00.002-05:00

Why must I feel like this today
I'm a soldier but afraid sometimes
To face the things that may
Block the sun from shinin' rays
And fill my life with shades of grey
But still I long to find a way
So today I pray for grace

I take a moment to myself
So I can myself
To feel myself
And be real myself
Life's addictions and afflictions
Cause abrasions from their friction
Sometimes, it's easier to live in fiction
I can run, but I can't hide
From the pains that
Reside deep down inside
There is no pill
That can be swallowed
There is no guru
That can be followed
There's no escapin'
From my own history
Those that I hurt,
And those that hurt me
I was dead for a million years
'Fore I was born and
I'll be dead for a million more
After I'm gone
So I live, to give somethin'
That can live on
Like the way you hum a song when the music's gone
Like the warmth on the sand
When the sun goes down
And I'm sittin' with myself
Nobody else is around but,

(chorus)

Been a long, long time
Since I been away
Been a long, long time
Since I felt this way
Been a long, long time
I found the words to say
How much I'm grateful
For my life today
'Cause under every cup
You might find a nut
Behind every corner
You might get jacked up
At the end of every rainbow,
You might find gold
The last bite of your sandwich,
Hope you don't find mould
'Cause none of us
Can live the perfect life
The kind that we see on nick at night
And sometimes, we all
Just lose sight
Of the pain that will guide us
From dark into the light
We fall down yes, but we get up,
And sometimes we just need
A little bit of love
To help make it
Through another day
Into the night, into the light,
Into a Saturday
So in the morning when I'm waitin'
For the sun to raise
And my head's a little foggy
Like I'm in a haze
I remind myself that
Everything is gonna be okay
I take a breath, slow down and say....(chorus repeats)

I had the pleasure of seeing this man and his band perform yesterday! He performed from the heart and here are some lyrics showcasing the truth that he expresses.

EXPRESS yoself

2010-05-14T11:09:00.006-05:00

Let the Music Move You
Set your soul on fire

JOY expressed through
dance
voice
instrumentation

Flowing through the movements
Free your body
Let go, lift off

Primitive connection
back to the roots of our ancestors

Share in community,
in spirit

Music spurring Celebration
Spreading LOVE

(Photo: From the beginning of Burning Man 2009. Fire lighting ceremony. Once the fire is lit it burns the duration of the Festival and is used to light the "man".)

Love Yourself, Be Whole

2010-05-11T11:29:00.003-05:00

Love yourself and be awake-
Today, tomorrow, always.

First establish yourself in the way,
Then teach others,
And so defeat sorrow.

To straighten the crooked
You must first do a harder thing-
Straighten yourself.

You are your only master.
Who else?
Subdue yourself,
And discover your master.
-The Dhammapada

"Weigh, within your heart, the true advantages of the energies of Love, Compassion and Forgiveness, against those of Anger, Fear and Resentment. Then Choose."

"In Buddhism, one could never be seperate from the wisdom of God, because the ultimate wisdom already exists in the heart of every person."

From: http://thebuddhistblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/love-yourself-and-be-awake.html THANKS!

We are of the Earth

2010-05-10T14:03:00.002-05:00

"The Temple bell stops. But the sound keeps coming - out of the flowers." Basho, the acclaimed 17th-century Buddhist poet.

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. ~Native American Wisdom

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance. ~Buddha

“Whether they belong to more evolved species like humans or to simpler ones such as animals, all beings primarily seek peace, comfort, and security. Life is as dear to the mute animal as it is to any human being; even the simplest insect strives for protection from dangers that threaten its life. Just as each one of us wants to live and does not wish to die, so it is with all other creatures in the universe, though their power to effect this is a different matter.” Dalai Lama

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

"Our breath plays a very important role in our life. The breath is the connecting link between the inner world of the mind and the outer world of the body and environment." Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Hindu)

http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=129

Pray for the Gulf

2010-05-05T18:36:00.003-05:00

We gently caress you, the Earth, our planet and our home.
Our vision has brought us closer to you, making us aware of the harm we have done to the life-network upon which we ourselves depend.
We are reminded that we have poisoned your waters, your lands, your air.
We have filled you with the bones of our dead from war and greed.
Your pain is our pain.
Touching you gently, we pray that we may become peace-bringers and life-bringers so that our home in its journey around the Sun not become a sterile and lonely place.
May this prayer and its power last forever.

I love the Gulf of Mexico, my home. I pray for all possible solutions to be enacted to help protect the waters, habitats, and animals; for the least amount of damage done. Let us learn the lessons being taught.

The Sun Behind the Clouds

2010-04-26T14:35:00.000-05:00

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/movies/31sun.html Movie Review from the NY Times

Dalai Lama Juggles Dilemmas
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: March 31, 2010

“The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom,” a documentary by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, is so awkwardly executed that at first it may come across as just another chorus of a familiar song: that Tibetans think they have been done terrible injustices by China. But pay close enough attention, and eventually another, entirely different theme emerges: the Dalai Lama may be losing his ability to keep the more radical elements of the free-Tibet movement in check.

The film looks at the protests against China that sprang up in 2008 in Tibet and among Tibetans living abroad, which coincided with the Chinese government’s efforts to improve its image as it prepared to host the summer Olympics. The Dalai Lama long ago backed away from calling for independence for Tibet, which has been under Chinese control for half a century, instead endorsing a so-called middle way that emphasizes preservation of culture. But many of the protesters wanted a return to a more militant stand.

The filmmakers, chronicling the Dalai Lama’s somewhat muddled attempts to respond to the protesters’ calls while not antagonizing China, do a fair amount of muddling themselves. They lurch awkwardly between reverence for the Dalai Lama and hints that he has become, politically, irrelevant or an obstacle.

Western viewers, accustomed to a less timid style of documentary, may come away from this one feeling that it only scratches the surface of a complex issue. The presence of this film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January caused China to withdraw two movies from that event, but the documentary is as much a challenge to the Dalai Lama as it is to the Chinese.

Happy EARTH Day!

2010-04-22T15:42:00.001-05:00

I entrust myself to Buddha.
Buddha entrusts himself to me.
I entrust myself to Earth,
Earth entrusts herself to me.

More Earth Gathas: http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/projects/DGT/gathas.htm

Love & Forgiveness Toward Oneself and Others

2010-04-20T14:06:00.003-05:00

Before being able to really love others, we need at least to accept ourselves as we are.

- I have some bad habits and faults, but am I really all that bad?
- Many things I do don't lead to perfect results, but at least I try to do my best.
- Now simply put a smile on your face, a real smile, not just visualised!
- Next focus the attention to the heart, and sense how a warm, loving feeling develops.
- We are all worthy to receive love
- Let this warm, loving feeling gradually fill up the whole body, and enjoy it!
- When ready, say:

"May I be healed of problems, dissatisfaction and pain
May I be able to forgive myself and find peace
May I be able to live from my heart
May I be happy, with only good thoughts and experiences"

- Breathe in love and forgiveness with every breath, and feel the healing power of giving yourself the space for love.
- Keep this feeling and the smile on your face as long as possible

- Now let this love stream out to others, the people around, the family, friends, the street, town, country, the world.
- Remember people you don't really like; they also just want to be happy.
- Are they only so bothersome because they need to feel loved, just like me?
- Try to have the courage of breaking through the standard habits by overloading them this time with love instead of hatred.
- When ready, offering the following thoughts to others:

May you all be healed of problems and pain
May you all forgive yourself and find peace
May you all be able to live from your heart
May you all be happy and give happiness to others

- Keep radiating warm loving-kindness to everyone
- Don't be afraid your love will run out; true love is a never ending source of energy!
- Only our own feelings of hatred, frustration, impatience and egoism limit the stream of love to other.

Credit to the Artist: Shiloh Sophia McCloud http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com/giclee.html

I AM

2010-04-16T10:25:00.000-05:00

I had a misconception about Buddhism related to identity/personality. This misconception has been explained and I am no longer confused. My misconception: I thought Buddhism denounced 'a self' and this is not the case. See the distinction here:
http://www.buddhanet.net/buddhism-self.htm

I Loved This: "The teachings of Buddhism seem to stress the importance non-attachment because attachment leads to suffering. I've grown to realize the attachments I developed while growing up and as an adult were me, my identity. Now that I'm trying to de-attach myself, those attachments are no longer as much a part of who I once was and who I am and I begin to wonder, as a Buddhist, "who am I?"." From: http://www.mywurdz.com/node/73

And this is also the same conclusion I arrived at: "Maybe I should stop asking my self "Who am I?" and just start to 'BE'. Ah."

Humility

2010-04-13T16:15:00.001-05:00

The body is impure, bad-smelling, and replete with various kinds of stench which trickle here and there. If one, possessed of such a body, thinks highly of himself and despises others--that is due to nothing other than his lack of insight. Sutta Nipata 205-06

The fool who knows that he is a fool is for that very reason a wise man; the fool who thinks he is wise is called a fool indeed. Dhammapada 63

Subhuti, what do you think? Does a holy one say within himself, "I have obtained Perfective Enlightenment"? Subhuti replied, "No, World-honored One... If a holy one of Perfective Enlightenment said to himself, Such am I, he would necessarily partake of the idea of an ego-identity, a personality, a being, a separated individuality." Diamond Sutra 9

Credit to the artist: Sam Nagel. I hope she is ok with me posting her painting; it was perfect for this post. Thank you!

Thich Nhat Hanh Meditations, Talks, Mantras - Youtube

2010-04-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

First of all, please check out Oprah's interview of Nobel Peace Prize winner, author, teacher, and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Oprah-Talks-to-Thich-Nhat-Hanh/print/1

Here is a playlist I made of Youtube videos of, about, and by Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village. Check them out. It begins with Peace is Every Step, an interview and discussion with Thich Nhat Hanh regarding war (most specifically the Vietnam War).

He is a wonderful speaker and an inspiration to all those who seek peace.

Special Thanks

2010-04-02T12:07:00.002-05:00

It's been nearly a year since I started Zen Everyday.

I am so pleased with how well it has done. We have had hundreds of unique visitors from almost every continent. While my mission of bringing daily Zen has not fully been met, there has been one of my contributors that has become the soul of this site: Valerie.

Valerie has been single-handedly keeping this site going, while the rest of us (you know who you are) have been too caught up in our daily lives. In truth, we have been falling victim to the very reasons why we wanted a Zen blog in the first place.

It is with much humility and much more praise that I want to thank Valerie for everything that she has done, not only for the blog and all of its readers, but also for me. Her posts, her little inspirations, are consistent reminders to me of how I should be living and viewing life: contemplatively, calmly, and with great respect.

In short: Thank you Valerie for your dedication. I hope that you will continue to post and continue to inspire us.

Brandon

Too lazy to be ambitious

2010-03-29T10:05:00.002-05:00

Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.
By: Ryokan

All we have to do is be. Just be.

Love is the Seventh Wave

2010-03-24T10:58:00.002-05:00

In the empire of the senses
You're the queen of all you survey
All the cities all the nations
Everything that falls your way
There is a deeper wave than this
That you don't understand
There is a deeper wave than this
Tugging at your hand

Every ripple on the ocean
Every leaf on every tree
Every sand dune in the desert
Every power we never see
There is a deeper wave than this
Swelling in the world
There is a deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

Feel it rising in the cities
Feel it sweeping over land
Over borders, over frontiers
Nothing will its power withstand
There is no deeper wave than this
Rising in the world
There is no deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

All the bloodshed, all the anger
All the weapons, all the greed
All the armies, all the missiles
All the symbols of our fear
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the world
There is a deeper wave than this
Listen to me girl

At the still point of destruction
At the centre of the fury
All the angels, all the devils
All around us can't you see
There is a deeper wave than this
Rising in the land
There is a deeper wave than this
Nothing will withstand

I say love is the seventh wave

This is a song by Sting

Steps Along the Path by: Phra Ajaan Thate Desaransi (Phra Rajanirodharansi)

2010-03-10T09:57:00.002-06:00

The purification of our words and deeds has to begin with training in moral virtue. The purification of the mind has to begin with training in tranquillity — concentration and absorption — until the mind has enough strength to suppress the five Hindrances. When the mind is adept at concentration and absorption, able to enter, withdraw, and stay in place at will, then discernment — the light of knowledge seeing into the truth of all natural conditions (sabhava dhamma), together with the causes for their arising and passing away — will arise in a remarkable way.

This sort of knowledge may arise only to certain individuals in certain circumstances. But in any case, those who have trained their minds to this level should realize that a mind that has reached this point is fit to be trained to give rise to clear insight. They should thus take any aspect of the body or any mental phenomenon that occupies their thoughts, and examine it from the standpoint of the Three Characteristics, as explained above. Then they too will develop the light of insight, seeing clearly into all conditioned things — and be able to uproot attachments to physical and mental phenomena of every sort.

Even though the mind is intangible, it has influence over the body and all things in the world. It is capable of bringing everything in the world under its power. Still, it isn't so vicious or savage as to lack all sense of good and evil. When a person of good intentions trains the mind to enter correctly into the path of the Buddha's teachings as explained above, it will be tractable and quick to learn, developing the wisdom to bring the body, which may be behaving without any principles, back into line. In addition, it can cleanse itself to be bright and clean, free from defilements, able to realize by itself truths that are subtle and profound, and to bring dazzling light into this world so dark with blindness.

This is because the true substance of the mind has been, from the very beginning, something bright and clear. But because of the preoccupations that have seeped into it and clouded it, the brightness of the mind has been temporarily darkened, making the world dark as well. If the mind were originally dark, there probably wouldn't be anyone able to cleanse it to the point where it could give rise to the light of discernment at all.

So whether the world is to be dark or bright, whether it is to experience well-being or suffering, depends on the mind of each individual. We as individuals should thus first train our own minds well, and then train the minds of others. The world will then be free from turmoil.

To Read more: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/thate/stepsalong.html

Buddhist Chants & Peace Music - Hanshan Temple

2010-03-09T15:03:00.001-06:00

Music to uplift and relax you; perhaps even use in meditation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcYLO8haYas&fmt=18&annotation_id=annotation_265661&feature=iv

Beam

2010-03-08T11:02:00.002-06:00

Help lead from darkness to light-
confusion to understanding,
fear to wisdom,
dislike to Love.

You are Love.
We are Love.

BEAM

Finding the Heart of Enlightenment-Right Concentration

2010-03-03T08:53:00.003-06:00

Neither giving nor taking
Neither for nor against
Leave your mind at rest
With perceptions remain unconcerned
The great Way is a mind open to everything
which clings to nothing

which fixates nowhere
Radiant and stainless
Rest in the unmoved, uncreated and spontaneous
and you will soon reach Buddhahood.

-Meditation Instruction from Tilopa, a Tenth-Century Yogi

From the book "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das

Free and Easy: A Spontaneous Vajra Song, by Lama Gendun Rinpoche

2010-02-23T14:42:00.001-06:00

Happiness can not be found
through great effort and willpower,
but is already present,
in open relaxation and letting go.

Don't strain yourself,
there is nothing to do or undo.
Whatever momentarily arises
in the body-mind
has no real importance at all,
has little reality whatsoever.
Why identify with,
and become attached to it,
passing judgement upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply
let the entire game happen on its own,
springing up and falling back like waves
without changing or manipulating anything
and notice how everything
vanishes and reappears, magically,
again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness
prevents us from seeing it.
It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue
without ever catching
or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness
do not exist as an actual thing or place,
it is always available
and accompanies you every instant.

Don't believe in the reality
of good and bad experiences;
they are like today's ephemeral weather,
like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable,
you exhaust yourself in vain.
As soon as you open and relax
this tight fist of grasping,
infinite space is there -
open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness, this
freedom and natural ease.
Don't go into the tangled jungle
looking for the great awakened elephant,
who is already resting quietly at home
in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,
nothing to force,
nothing to want,
and nothing missing-

Emaho! Marvelous!
Everything happens by itself.

By Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche

Let us Live in Joy

2010-02-11T10:05:00.003-06:00

O let us live in joy, although having nothing!
In joy let us live like spirits of light!
-Bhudda; the Dhammapada

Meditation is plugging in to the pulse of the universe.
-A thought I had the other day while meditating. Today I looked up "pulse of the universe" in Google images and this is what appeared.

The Mayan prophecy tells us that in 1999, our solar system began to leave the end of the fifth cycle which started in 3113 B.C. and that we find ourselves in the morning of our galactic day, exiting darkness and on the verge of being in plain day of our central galaxy in 2012. They say that at the beginning and end of these cycles, which is to say, every 5,125 years, the central sun or light of the galaxy emits a ray of light so intense and so brilliant that it illuminates the entire universe. It is from this burst of light that all of the Suns and planets sync. The Mayans compare this burst to the pulse of the universe, beating once every 5,125 years. It is these pulses that mark the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. Each pulse lasting 20 years, a Katún.

Small Gestures Go a Long Way

2010-02-10T10:21:00.002-06:00

Don't let anything hold you back from being completely open and compassionate. Finding ways to unlock our hearts & minds to give their full potential is key. The more accustomed we are to being fully free, the more easily beautiful acts flow from us. The kind acts we do, hold great power. Acknowledge the good you accomplish, then continue doing more. If your day is driven by helping and loving others think how much positivity you are spreading!

Music for the Soul

2010-02-09T11:56:00.003-06:00

Have a listen- "Relaxing Chinese Buddhist Music" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEanU4DB1T0&feature=related

The Sheltering Tree of Interdependence

2010-02-08T09:26:00.002-06:00

During the course of my extensive travelling to countries across the world, rich and poor, East and West, I have seen people reveling in pleasure, and people suffering. The advancement of science and technology seems to have achieved little more than linear, numerical improvement; development often means little more than more mansions in more cities. As a result, the ecological balance- the very basis of our life on earth- has been greatly affected.

On the other hand, in days gone by, the people of Tibet lived a happy life, untroubled by pollution, in natural conditions. Today, allover the world, including Tibet, ecological degradation is fast 0vertaking us. I am wholly convinced that, if all of us do not make a concerted effort, with a sense of universal responsibility, we will see "the gradual breakdown of the fragile ecosystems that support us, resulting in an irreversible and irrevocable degradation of our planet, Earth.

These stanzas have been composed to underline my deep concern, and to call upon all concerned people to make continuous efforts to reserve and remedy the degradation of our environment.

1. O Lord Tathagata
Born of the lksvakus tree
Peerless One
Who, seeing the all-pervasive nature
Of interdependence
Between the Environment and sentient beings
Samsara and Nirvana
Moving and unmoving
Teaches the world out of compassion
Bestow thy benevolence on us

2. O the Savior
The one called Avalokitesvara
Personifying the body of compassion
Of all Buddhas
We beseech thee to make our spirits ripen
And fructify to observe reality
Bereft of illusion

3. Our obdurate egocentricity
Ingrained in our minds
Since beginingless time
Contaminates, defiles and pollutes
The environment
Created by the common karma
Of all sentient beings

4. Lakes and ponds have lost
Their clarity, their coolness
The atmosphere is poisoned
Nature's celestial canopy in the fiery firmament
Has burst asunder
And sentient beings suffer diseases
Unknown before

5. Perennial Snow Mountains resplendent in their glory
Bow down and melt into water
The majestic oceans lose their ageless equilibrium
And inundate islands

6. The dangers of tire, water and wind are limitless
Sweltering heat dries up our lush forests
Lashing our world with unprecedented storms
And the oceans surrender their salt to the elements

7. Though people lack not wealth
They cannot afford to breathe clean air
Rains and streams cleanse not
But remain inert and powerless liquids

8. Human beings
And countless beings
That inhabit water and land
Reel under the yoke of physical pain
Caused by malevolent diseases
Their minds are dulled
With sloth, stupor and, ignorance
The joys of the body and spirit
Are far, far away

9. We needlessly pollute
The fair bosom of our mother earth
Rip out her trees to feed our short -sighted greed
Turning our fertile earth into a sterile desert

10. The interdependent nature
Of the external environment
And people's inward nature
Described in tantras
Works on Medicine, and astronomy
Has verily been vindicated
By our present experience

11. The earth is home to living beings;
Equal and impartial to the moving and unmoving
Thus spoke the Buddha in truthful voice
With the great earth for witness

12. As a noble being recognizes the kindness
Of a sentient mother
And makes recompense for it
So the earth, the universal mother
Which nurtures equally
Should be regarded with affection and care

13. Forsake wastage
Pollution not the clean, clear nature
Of the four elements
And destroy the well being of people
But absorb yourself in actions
That are beneficial to all

14. Under a tree was the great Saga Buddha born
Under a tree, he overcame passion
And attained enlightenment
Under two trees did he pass in Nirvana
Verily, the Buddha held the tree in great esteem

15. Here, where Manjusri's emanation
Lama Tson Khapa's body bloomed forth
Is marked by a sandal tree
Bearing a hundred thousand images of the Buddha

16. Is it not well known
That some transcendental deities
Eminent local deities and spirits
Make their adobe in tree?

17. Flourishing trees clean the wind
Help us breathe the sustaining air of life
They please the eye and sooth the mind
Their shade makes a welcome resting-place

18. In Vinaya, the Buddha taught monks
To care for tender trees'
From this, we learn the virtue
Of planting, of nurturing trees

19. The Buddha forbade monks to cut
Cause others to cUt living plants
Destroy seeds or defile the fresh green grass
Should this not inspire us
To love and protect our environment?

20. They say, in the celestial realms
The trees emanate
The Buddha's blessings
And echo the sound
Of basic Buddhist doctrines
Like impermanence

21. It is tree that brings rain
Trees that hold the essence of the soil
Kalpa-Taru, the tree of wishes fultillment
Virtually resides on earth
To serve all purposes

22. In times of yore
Our forbears ate the fruits of trees
Wore their leaves
Discovered fire by the attrition of wood
Took refuge amidst the foliage of trees
When they encountered danger

23. Even in this age of science
Of technology
Trees provide us shelter
The chairs we sir in
The beds we lie on
When the heart is ablaze
With the fire of anger
Fueled by wrangling
Trees bring refreshing, welcome coolness

24. In the trees lie the roars
Of all life on earth
When it vanishes
The land exemplified by the name
Of the Jambu tree
Will remain no more than a dreary, desolate desert

25. Nothing is dearer to the living than life
Recognizing this, in the Vinaya rules
The Buddha lays down prohibitions
Like the use of water with living creatures

26. In the remoteness of the Himalayas
In the days of yore, the land of Tibet
Observed a ban on hunting, on fishing
And, during designated periods, even construction
These traditions are noble
For they preserve and cherish
The lives of humble; helpless, defenseless creatures

27. Playing with the lives of other beings
Without sensitivity or hesitation
As in the act of hunting or fishing for sport
Is an act of heedless, needless violence
A violation of the solemn rights
Of all living beings

28. Being attentive to the nature
Of interdependence of all creatures
Both animate and inanimate
One should never slacken in one's efforts
To preserve and conserve nature's energy

29. On a certain day, month and year One should observe the ceremony
Of tree planting
Thus, one fulfills one's responsibilities
Serves one's fellow beings
Which not only brings one happiness
But benefits all

30. May the force of observing that which is right
And abstinence from wrong practices and evil deeds
Nourish and augment the prosperity of the world,
May it invigorate living beings and help them blossom
May sylvan joy and pristine happiness
Ever increase, ever spread and encompass all that is

This poem was released on the occasion of the presentation.by His Holiness the Dalai Lama of a statue of the Buddha to the people of India. and to mark the opening of the International Conference on Ecological Responsibility: A Dialogue With Buddhism on October 2, 1993, at. New Delhi. (A booklet. of the poem, in Tibetan and English, is distributed by Tibet House, New Delhi.)

Symptoms of Inner Peace

2010-02-05T10:57:00.002-06:00

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it inepidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
A loss of interest in judging other people.
A loss of interest in judging self.
A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
A loss of interest in conflict.
A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
Frequent attacks of smiling.
An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the
uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING: If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to not be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of thesesymptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.

Found: http://www.wildmind.org/background/symptoms Copyright © 1984 Saskia Davis. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. For permission to republish, contact Saskia at sweetamazinggrace (at) earthlink.net.

Go for Refuge in the Dharma

2010-02-03T17:29:00.002-06:00

Until you reach the path,
you wander in the world
with the precious Buddha
Completely wrapped up inside
As in a bundle of rags
...you have this precious Buddha. Unwrap
it quickly!

-FROM THE SUTRA OF THE HOLY BUDDHA

The Heart Sutra

2010-01-28T10:10:00.005-06:00

Here is the Heart Sutra, the condensed essence of the Prajna Paramita Sutras:

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, practicing deep prajna
paramita
Clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming all
suffering and distress.

Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form;
Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form;
sensation, thought, impulse, consciousness are also like this.

All things are marked by emptiness-not born,
not destroyed;
not stained, not pure; without gain, without loss.
Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation,
thought, impulse, consciousness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, object of thought;
no realm of sight to no realm of thought;
no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance
to no old age and death and also no ending of old age and death;
no suffering, also no source of suffering, no annihilation, no
path;
no wisdom, also no attainment. Having nothing to attain,
Bodhisattvas live prajna paramita
with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, thus no fear.
Far beyond delusive thinking, they attain complete Nirvana.

All Buddhas past, present and future live prajna paramita
and thus attain perfect awakened enlightenment.

Therefore, know that prajna paramita is
the great mantra, the wisdom mantra,
the unsurpassed mantra, the supreme mantra,
which completely removes all suffering.

This is truth, not deception.
Therefore, set forth the prajna paramita mantra,
set forth this mantra and say:

Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.

Reading Reading Reading

2010-01-24T21:57:00.001-06:00

I just checked out a bunch of books from my University Library where I work.

Here's the list:

To Forget the Self: An Illustrated Guide to Zen Meditation   by: John Daishin Buksbazen

On Zen Practice   edited by: Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi and Bernard Tetsugen Glassman

Mon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen   edited by: Kazuaki Tanahashi ; translated by Robert Aitken

Keeping the Breath in Mind   by: Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

Food for Thought: Eighteen Talks on the Training of the Heart   by: Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo

As I go through these texts I'll keep you updated if they're any good.

Hug Machine

2010-01-22T14:36:00.003-06:00

Give whatcha got
Give whatcha feel
Say what you think
Do whatcha do
Be who you are
Be FREE

Smile
Love
Fart
Laugh

Embrace the sun
Climb the Trees

Say hello to the
birds
ants
and furry friends

Be grateful
There's air in your lungs
A brain that thinks
And so many surprises

Time, Space and Being

2010-01-20T14:07:00.002-06:00

In the common sense, time seems to be something separate from beings, but Dogen Zenji says this is just our idea of time, a provisional picture we create, not the total picture of time. Dogen understands time in terms of all sentient beings. He says that time must be considered in relation with all sentient beings because time can be correctly understood only in deep interrelationship with all sentient beings. The phrase “all sentient beings” refers not only to human beings but to everything that exists—animate or inanimate, visible or invisible—in the vast expanse of the universe.

According to Buddhist teaching, everything exists together simultaneously in a moment. This is not the usual way of understanding human life, yet you are always experiencing this in your life because you can think of many things simultaneously. A dream is a good example. When you dream, many beings come together into the moment. You might see someone who existed in the past, ten or twenty years ago, and also someone you could meet in the future. When I was a child, I dreamed that I was on a train and needed to use the toilet. It was difficult to find the toilet because the train was jammed with people. I tried to get through them, but it was too difficult. So I tried to get off the train, but it was impossible. Somehow I did it anyway. I got off the train, found a forest, and relieved myself there. I felt a wonderful relief and, simultaneously, I woke up. I was in my bed! I couldn’t understand how all these things could be connected, but it was a fact. The train, the people on the train, finding a forest—many things existed simultaneously in a moment.

Time seems to be separate from beings, but actually there is no separation. From moment to moment, all sentient beings exist together as a completely independent moment of time. When the moment begins, all sentient beings temporarily appear as particular beings in the stream of time and seem to have their own separate existences. When the moment ceases, all sentient beings disappear, but they do not go away; they are interconnected smoothly and quietly in timelessness. Dogen’s word being represents all sentient beings existing in the formless realm of timelessness, and time characterizes the existence of completely independent moments. Being and time work together, so Dogen doesn’t separate them; he uses the one term being-time.

But the total picture of time cannot be understood only in terms of being and time; it must also be understood in terms of space. Space is the vast expanse of the universe where everything exists. Dogen’s understanding of space is not our usual understanding. According to our usual understanding, when something exists it takes a place that is a portion of space. We understand existence as something opposed to space. But that is dualistic thinking. If everything exists together simultaneously in a moment, then everything can’t occupy a portion of space, everything must occupy the whole of space.

When we say “being,” it means all sentient beings exist in space and occupy the whole of space. Being occupying the whole of space is called timelessness. Timelessness is a sort of energy that links the whole universe without creating any gap. In the realm of space as being, all sentient beings exist, but they are not separate; they are dynamically interconnected and interpenetrated in peace and harmony.

Yet we can’t understand life just according to being, becoming attached to a fixed idea of space as being and thinking that time is not also there. If we say so, our life can’t move at all. Nothing has a fixed existence, so being must also be no-being. No-being means being disappears into the arising moment and becomes one with time. When being is time, being manifests as the particular forms of the phenomenal world, and time occupies the whole of space as the present moment.

But in order for life to change, there must be another moment. So time must be no-time. No-time means the present moment returns to timelessness and becomes one with being. When time is being, time is nothingness. Nothingness has no form, it is just functioning energy. All sentient beings are dynamically interconnected and interpenetrated by the energy of timelessness, and being occupies the whole of space. When all sentient beings are interconnected in timelessness, the next moment can begin. Then being manifests itself anew as the phenomenal aspect of a fresh moment. So the source of time is being, and the source of being is time, but both depend on space. This is the total picture of time that Dogen really wants us to understand.

We say that human beings are just particular beings located at the intersection of time and space. You cannot separate time from space or space from time, but you cannot think of them as a combination. You have to think of time and space separately, but you cannot understand time separately from space. The intersection of time and space is called “right now, right here.” At the intersection of time and space, time and space come together and work together mutually. We don’t know how, we don’t know exactly what happens, but it’s a fact. This is reality. This is the place called truth, or nonduality, the place where you can see the overall picture of existence.

If you see the intersection of time and space, you experience complete freedom of being. This state of existence is completely beyond any idea of time, space, or being. In that liberated state you can see fundamental truth and the phenomenal world simultaneously. That is called Buddha’s world. That is the place where all sentient beings exist, so you can stand up there and see all beings, myriad beings. Then you know very clearly, through your own emotional and intellectual understanding, how all beings exist.

This is part of a long article titled "Being in Real Time" from Buddhadarma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. To read the full article visit this link http://www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2007/fall/time.php

Compassion - H.H. Dalai Lama

2010-01-17T21:05:00.003-06:00

Dalai Lama on Compassion (via this link)

Here are just the first two parts of H.H. the Dalai Lama's teaching on compassion. Finish reading at the above link.

The purpose of life

ONE GREAT QUESTION underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life? I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them.

I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. I don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.

How to achieve happiness
For a start, it is possible to divide every kind of happiness and suffering into two main categories: mental and physical. Of the two, it is the mind that exerts the greatest influence on most of us. Unless we are either gravely ill or deprived of basic necessities, our physical condition plays a secondary role in life. If the body is content, we virtually ignore it. The mind, however, registers every event, no matter how small. Hence we should devote our most serious efforts to bringing about mental peace.

From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. This helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life.

As long as we live in this world we are bound to encounter problems. If, at such times, we lose hope and become discouraged, we diminish our ability to face difficulties. If, on the other hand, we remember that it is not just ourselves but every one who has to undergo suffering, this more realistic perspective will increase our determination and capacity to overcome troubles. Indeed, with this attitude, each new obstacle can be seen as yet another valuable opportunity to improve our mind!

Thus we can strive gradually to become more compassionate, that is we can develop both genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove their pain. As a result, our own serenity and inner strength will increase.

Image via Wikipedia

Words of the Buddha

2010-01-11T09:34:00.003-06:00

"He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye."

The drawing above was done by a friend, Caleb Burch. He titled it "Food for the Hearing Impaired" or "How I got my Buddha Mind."

I'm in a Bad Mood

2010-01-05T10:43:00.002-06:00

Antidotes To Bad Moods And Negative Emotions
by: Luc Reid
I’ve talked recently about how emotions can amplify themselves, an effect called “mood congruity.” This phenomenon is like an overzealous lunchlady, who sees a spoonful of mushy peas on your plate and keeps serving you more and more on the assumption that you must obviously love peas. In that post, I talked about the way purposely bringing up thoughts and memories associated with a better mood can help stop the lunchlady, effectively moving us forward in the lunchline to the mashed potatoes or Jell-O.

Buddhist thought offers a more refined version of this idea, the equivalent of trading in our mushy peas for whatever is least like mushy peas on the entire menu. In a book called Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama, this approach is called “emotional antidotes,” and it’s backed up by good science.

The idea behind emotional antidotes is that for each negative emotion, there is an opposite emotion that can be used to dissolve or extinguish the negative one. For instance, have you ever tried administering puppies to someone who’s in a bad mood (assuming they don’t hate puppies, in which case they may be a lost cause)? Science shows us that puppies are inimical to sour moods. This does not mean that the opposite of depression is puppies, although if you have to take away the wrong idea from this post, that’s at least a wrong idea that has some utility.

What specific emotions are antidotes to others? (I’ll depart in some details from the Buddhist model here, partly since emotions as seen through the lens of classical Buddhist thought are not quite the same ones we tend to think of in the West.)

As a prime example, love extinguishes anger–and don’t think I’m getting all touchy-feely on you here. Love is a specific emotion that I’d bet good money you can identify, and most of us can find something that, if we think about it a little, will give rise to feelings of love in us. (As an example, it’s very easy for me to conjure up feelings of love by remembering things about my son.) Anger is not compatible with love: we have only one brain, and that brain will be awash with a specific set of brain chemicals at a any given time. The chemicals that support anger (like adrenaline) are not the same as the chemicals that support love (like oxytocin). Summoning up feelings of love changes our brain chemistry and also harnesses mood congruity to increase those feelings of love, as thinking about one memory that inspires love tends to remind us of other memories that inspire love. Feeling angry and want to change it? Remind yourself of what you love.

Similarly, taking pleasure in things we admire about other people can help defeat jealousy; thinking about things that that excite us can help defeat depression; thinking of things that make us confident or at peace can help defeat anxiety; and so on.

There’s also a panacea of a sort, an antidote to all negative emotions, which is to recognize their emptiness. This is very much like the basic idea behind idea repair: negative emotions very often (though not always!) are based on ideas that are misleading or false, or that assume too much, such as “There’s no way I can learn all this” or “Everybody in the room must think I’m an idiot.” Since we can’t read minds, and since even if we could other people’s thoughts about us do not define us, any anxiety or distress or overindulgence in Doritos that may arise from believing everyone else in the room thinks one is a idiot is acting on an empty, fake, false idea. When we really examine what we’re telling ourselves about what happens to us, often negative feelings evaporate as we examine them in greater depth.

Either way, whether we use specific emotions as antidotes or poke the balloons of our negative emotions until they pop, greater self-understanding or positive feelings can be consciously used as a tool to break up bad moods and negative emotions. And if this doesn’t work, there are always puppies.

New Year

2010-01-01T13:30:00.001-06:00

This year, take mindfulness to heart and actively work to promote positive change for all beings.

Masters of Our Own Domain

2009-12-09T14:26:00.002-06:00

Lama Surya Das writes: "This is how we awaken our inner guru, our inner guide-the Buddha within, the secret master comfortably ensconed forever in our own heart cave. This inner guru is none other than truth itself-our own innate wisdom and heart center's noblest intuitive understanding and love. This is the inner meaning of the provocative, iconoclastic Zen saying "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" Because he must be an imposter, since the only real Buddha or divine being is within. When you invoke the gods or the angels, when you pray, you are awakening the sublime being within yourself."

Zen Gardening?

2009-11-30T20:04:00.000-06:00

Firstly, many thanks to Valerie for keeping updates coming while the rest of us have been slacking off (read: extremely busy).

Now, to the meat of the matter.

Gardening has become one of my favorite past times. Zen teachers often preach the benefits of vegetarianism--and with gardening you can take an active role in this. Even if you don't dedicate yourself to vegetarianism, you can still reap the benefits of cultivating your own garden.

In today's economy, food is becoming increasingly expensive. One way to curb that cost is to grow seasonal foods on your own.

There are many guides online to what you should plant and when, but if you're living in North America, I highly recommend Southern Exposure Seed Exchange's guide (and seeds!).

Their guide can be found here: http://www.southernexposure.com/plantingdates.pdf

Their seeds are Organic and they consistently work to better the environment.
You can read more about Southern Exposure Seed Exchange at their website: www.southernexposure.com

   For thirty years I have been in search of the swordsman;
                Many a time have I watched the leaves decay
                           and the branches shoot!
                Ever since I saw for once the peaches in bloom,
                Not a shadow of doubt do I cherish.

                            -   Ling-Yün and the Peach Blossoms
                                       D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, 1953, 2nd Series, p. 145,

The wind has settled, the blossoms have fallen;
Birds sing, the mountains grow dark --
This is the wondrous power of Buddhism.

               -   Ryokan,    (1758-1831)
                           Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf
                            Translated by John Stevens

                                       Nothing in the cry
                                             of cicadas suggests they
                                        are about to die

                                                 - Basho

My legacy -
         What will it be?
               Flowers in spring,
                        The cuckoo in summer,
                          And the crimson maples
     Of autumn ...

                                     -   Ryokan   (1758-1831)
                                                           Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf, p.143
                                               Translated by John Stevens

The best place to find God is in a garden.
You can dig for him there.
- George Bernard Shaw

Your garden doesn't have to be big. It can be as small as one cabbage plant in your apartment window. Cultivating Zen through gardening is a great way to realize your buddha nature and realize, too, your own impermanence.

-Brandon

Dancing With Life

2009-11-25T08:37:00.005-06:00

Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream.
They end only when you drop them.

Human moods are like the changing headlights
and shadows
on a sunlit mountain range.

All activities are like the games children play,
like castles being made of sand.
View them with delight and equanimity,
like grandparents overseeing their grandchildren
or a shepherd resting on a grassy knoll
watching over his grazing flock.
~Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, from a spontaneous Vajra Song

From Lama Surya Das: Right action doesn't have to be daunting and seemingly unreachable prospect. As we go through life, it's as if we are playing with sand that sifts through our fingers. When we are children and built our castles in the sand, they were filled with fun. Our adult projects could be almost the same way: full of joy instead of fear, openness instead of defensiveness, equanimity instead of dualism, anxiety and doubt.

Like me, you are probably trying to fine-tune your actions so they reflect your deepest-held beliefs and values. Fine-tune is the operative term here: how to live and act more and more in a manner congruent with our inner beliefs and words. This is a constant, ongoing and gradual unfolding process. Remember we are all works in progress, striving to refine our spirits and our lives. It's unrealistic to expect to instantly transform from seeds into healthy, fully blossomed shade tress. In this spiritual business, we are growing Bodhisattvas, not shade trees; we are growing up in a spiritual sense. We are refining our true nature; refining the ore and extracting the gold. A process-oriented philosophy, Buddhism doesn't believe in finality. It is about coming home, not about impossible, pie-in-the-sky promises. It can be as simple as we can be. Because we are quite complicated, are paths are complicated.

To take up our spiritual beliefs and concern and apply them in everday life, we have to learn to treat life like an intimate dancing partner. Why withdraw and turn into wallflowers-mere specatators? Feel the music of your own life; dance to the drumbeat of living spirit through your own being.

As you walk the path, remember to practice self-forgiveness and self-acceptance. Life is like an experiment, and everything we do is improvisational. Right action essentially requires of us only that we be perfectly sincere, appreciate things as they are, understand causality and its ethical implications and try to do our best. For doing our best is the very best any of us can do.

Improv dancing at Burning Man

Words of the Buddha

2009-11-19T14:39:00.000-06:00

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.

An Overview on Loving-Kindness Meditation

2009-11-17T09:40:00.002-06:00

Loving-kindness meditation can be brought in to support the practice of 'bare attention' to help keep the mind open and sweet. It provides the essential balance to support your insight meditation practice.

It is a fact of life that many people are troubled by difficult emotional states in the pressured societies we live in, but do little in terms of developing skills to deal with them. Yet even when the mind goes sour it is within most people's capacity to arouse positive feelings to sweeten it. Loving-kindness is a meditation practice taught by the Buddha to develop the mental habit of selfless or altruistic love. In the Dhammapada can be found the saying: "Hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness, and dissipates if supplanted with thoughts based on loving-kindness."

Loving-kindness is a meditation practice, which brings about positive attitudinal changes as it systematically develops the quality of 'loving-acceptance'. It acts, as it were, as a form of self-psychotherapy, a way of healing the troubled mind to free it from its pain and confusion. Of all Buddhist meditations, loving-kindness has the immediate benefit of sweetening and changing old habituated negative patterns of mind.

To put it into its context, Loving-kindness is the first of a series of meditations that produce four qualities of love: Friendliness (metta), Compassion (karuna), Appreciative Joy (mudita) and Equanimity (upekkha). The quality of 'friendliness' is expressed as warmth that reaches out and embraces others. When loving-kindness practice matures it naturally overflows into compassion, as one empathises with other people's difficulties; on the other hand one needs to be wary of pity, as its near enemy, as it merely mimics the quality of concern without empathy. The positive expression of empathy is an appreciation of other people's good qualities or good fortune, or appreciative joy, rather than feelings of jealousy towards them. This series of meditations comes to maturity as 'on-looking equanimity'. This 'engaged equanimity' must be cultivated within the context of this series of meditations, or there is a risk of it manifesting as its near enemy, indifference or aloofness. So, ultimately you remain kindly disposed and caring toward everybody with an equal spread of loving feelings and acceptance in all situations and relationships.

How to do it . . .

The practice always begins with developing a loving acceptance of yourself. If resistance is experienced then it indicates that feelings of unworthiness are present. No matter, this means there is work to be done, as the practice itself is designed to overcome any feelings of self-doubt or negativity. Then you are ready to systematically develop loving-kindness towards others.

Four Types of Persons to develop loving-kindness towards:

• a respected, beloved person - such as a spiritual teacher;
• a dearly beloved - which could be a close family member or friend;
• a neutral person - somebody you know, but have no special feelings towards, e.g.: a person who serves you in a shop;
• a hostile person - someone you are currently having difficulty with.

Starting with yourself, then systematically sending loving-kindness from person to person in the above order will have the effect of breaking down the barriers between the four types of people and yourself. This will have the effect of breaking down the divisions within your own mind, the source of much of the conflict we experience. Just a word of caution if you are practicing intensively. It is best if you choose a member of the same sex or, if you have a sexual bias to your own sex, a person of the opposite sex. This is because of the risk that the near enemy of loving-kindness, lust, can be aroused. Try different people to practice on, as some people do not easily fit into the above categories, but do try to keep to the prescribed order.

Ways of arousing feelings of loving-kindness:

1. Visualisation - Bring up a mental picture. See yourself or the person the feeling is directed at smiling back at you or just being joyous.

1. By reflection - Reflect on the positive qualities of a person and the acts of kindness they have done. And to yourself, making an affirmation, a positive statement about yourself, using your own words.

3. Auditory - This is the simplest way but probably the most effective. Repeat an internalized mantra or phrase such as 'loving-kindness'.

The visualisations, reflections and the repetition of loving-kindness are devices to help you arouse positive feelings of loving-kindness. You can use all of them or one that works best for you. When the positive feeling arise, switch from the devices to the feeling, as it is the feeling that is the primary focus. Keep the mind fixed on the feeling, if it strays bring it back to the device, or if the feelings weaken or are lost then return to the device, i.e. use the visualisation to bring back or strengthen the feeling.

The second stage is Directional Pervasion where you systematically project the aroused feeling of loving-kindness to all points of the compass: north, south, east and west, up and down, and all around. This directional pervasion will be enhanced by bringing to mind loving friends and like-minded communities you know in the cities, towns and countries around the world.

Non-specific Pervasion tends to spontaneously happen as the practice matures. It is not discriminating. It has no specific object and involves just naturally radiating feelings of universal love. When it arises the practice has then come to maturity in that it has changed particular, preferential love, which is an attached love, to an all-embracing unconditional love!

Loving-kindness is a heart meditation and should not to be seen as just a formal sitting practice removed from everyday life. So take your good vibes outside into the streets, at home, at work and into your relationships. Applying the practice to daily life is a matter of directing a friendly attitude and having openness toward everybody you relate to, without discrimination.

There are as many different ways of doing it as there are levels of intensity in the practice. This introduction is intended to help you familiarize yourself with the basic technique, so that you can become established in the practice before going on, if you wish, to the deeper, systematic practice - to the level of meditative absorption.

This comes from Buddhanet with Ven. Pannyavaro

Daily Affirmation Prayer

2009-11-16T11:28:00.002-06:00

Entrusting in the Primal Vow of Buddha,
Calling out the Buddha-name,
I shall pass through the journey of life with strength and joy.

Revering the Light of Buddha,
Reflecting upon my imperfect self,
I shall proceed to live a life of gratitude.

Following the Teachings of Buddha,
Listening to the Right Path,
I shall share the True Dharma with all.

Rejoicing in the compassion of Buddha,
Respecting and aiding all sentient beings,
I shall work towards the welfare of society and the world.

Commentary: I'm still new to Buddhism and have grown up Catholic-familiar with prayer, but not so much with meditation. Buddhists pray as well as meditate and I found this prayer which you can recite daily as a confirmation of your practice. For those of you who are more familiar this post may not be very helpful for you, but for those less familiar-the fundamental, basic building blocks, including prayers can be especially useful. Have a lovely day!

Higher Education System

2009-11-12T10:06:00.006-06:00

I found a book two days ago (or it found me) in the Library titled "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das. Just reading 50 pages last night put me in a lifted mood today. I follow what I feel/think is best for myself and I am feeling an urge to involve myself more with Buddhism. I plan on going to a Buddhist Temple in Fairhope next Sunday the 22nd if anyone would like to accompany me; it will be my first time going to any Buddhist spiritual establishment. http://fairhopetibetan.org/index.html
Now to share with you a blog entry by Lama Surya Das:

“It seems odd that we spend so much time in schools on such matters as simplifying radicals, learning about the War of 1812 and identifying the parts of speech and so little on the personal quest for meaning. “ –Noddings (1984)

I have been thinking and writing lately about what would constitute a truly Higher Education system — a wisdom-for-life leadership, learning, and empowerment process — which integrates ones upbringing, schooling, and life experience into a meaningful whole. Higher ed today seems to have become, for the most part, mere vocational training, although jobs in this economy are scarce and college graduates such as my goddaughter — Bowdoin College, 2009 — tell me they are pessimistic about going forth into this new world. I personally would rather learn more than earn more.

What philosophy class teaches us how to find ourselves? How to inquire and come to our own conclusions and eventual convictions regarding life’s Biggest Questions, such as how we shall live our lives, what is our true work, why we are here-where we come from — and where are we going (to quote Gauguin), who am I, how shall I love, what is Higher Power (however we may conceive of it), why bad things happen to good people, how to get my hands on the steering wheel of my life in order to attain happiness and fulfillment, inner peace and well being, the end of existential anxiety?
Where can we learn and integrate these things today, in order to benefit ourselves as well as for the betterment of the world and to pass it on to future generations?

I think our current economic and sociopolitical crisis provides us with a real chink in the armor of complacency which has obscured American originality and imagination in past decades, leaving us in a learning moment for the genuine light to shine through. Let’s each together be part of that shining.

Comment: I recently met a work partner, a non-profit called What about Blue, two guys and a girl who were kayaking the Mississippi River to raise awareness and funds for the global water crisis. They told me about a man they met on the river who had lost his job, had no luck finding a new one and decided the best use of his time would be to travel by canoe along rivers of the U.S. till he felt his trip was complete. I think this fits perfectly with the final paragraph of this entry-we are in a new time and with this new time comes new opportunity and a chance to see things in a different, more clear light. Below is a picture of one of the Kayakers, Danielle, taken by another kayaker Brian.

Food for Thought

2009-11-06T10:43:00.002-06:00

I came across this website/feed that's definitely worth checking out; that's where I found this entry http://www.totallyzen.com/

What if you changed everything you ate? What if changing your food changed your whole life? What if we could drastically improve our lives simply by changing what we ate? We dare to ask, “Could this be true”? Well, let me tell you - it really is that simple.

When we change what we eat, everything changes. Everything. Food literally becomes our blood, cells, tissues, organs and muscles. But it also becomes our thoughts and emotions. That’s simply the science of food. It affects every process in our body, physically, mentally and emotionally. Is that crazy? Or does it seem to make perfect sense? Stay with me then. Follow this…

If the food we eat literally becomes a part of us, wouldn’t that make the idea of “you are what you eat” quite real? When we begin to grasp this notion and put conscious effort and thought into the process of choosing our foods, we start to realize that we really are what we eat! So what does this mean?

It can be broken down into simple concepts like: buying local and organic products to avoid putting harmful toxins into our bodies, to support not only the environment as a whole but also our personal environments (our bodies!), and to fuel our bodies with the highest quality of food possible. Given half the chance, our bodies will take care of themselves. But we need to give it that chance, starting with the very thing we do at least three times a day - eating! Most of us would not knowingly ingest the chemicals that are now abundant in our food chain - things like methanol, a well-know neurotoxin. But we do, everyday. Reading labels and buying organic can help to start the process of “cleaning up” your diet.

Maybe you can begin to explore more complex ideas like the cross-species transference which hypothesizes that cruelty to animals, during the course of their lifetime or at time of their death, can be transferred over to whichever species chooses to (or unbeknownst to them) eat them - a simple transfer of negative energy. Crazy? I think not. We all certainly have experienced this transfer of energy before - from someone that gave you a “bad vibe” or someone that is so visually broken down and depressed that your own mood begins to change when you are around them (they bring you down).

You can start with a simple idea that works for me - when you eat better, you will begin to feel better. When you feel better, you begin to live better. This makes sense, right? So take a step back (or should we say forward) next time you are at the grocery store or out to dinner and think about what food is going to make you feel better, on all different types of levels: think about where your food came from, how it has been processed, how close is it to its natural state and even think about how it has been treated. This is not a revolutionary idea, but it is evolutionary. It will help decide how we move forward in our existence. Think of where we have come in the last 75 years alone - cancer, obesity, diabetes and diseases of all types are reaching epidemic proportions. I believe it is no coincidence at all that our diets have evolved more drastically in those last 75 years than they have in our entire existence! Can you see a connection? I can.

So just think about it - food, that is. I guarantee you it will change your life. Guarantee.

2 Buckets of Enlightenment

2009-11-04T17:19:00.000-06:00

From 101 Zen Stories.

I think these two zen stories work well together to help you understand zen (or not understand zen).

#29 No Water, No Moon

When the nun Chiyono studied Zen under Bukko of Engaku she was unable to attain the fruits of meditation for a long time.

At last one moonlit night she was carrying water in an old pail bound with bamboo. The bamboo broke and the bottom fell out of the pail, and at that moment Chiyono was set free!

In commemoration, she wrote a poem:

In this way and that I tried to save the old pail
Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break
Until at last the bottom fell out.
No more water in the pail!
No more moon in the water!

#96 A Drop of Water

A Zen master named Gisan asked a young student to bring him a pail of water to cool his bath.

The student brought the water and, after cooling the bath, threw on to the ground the little that was left over.

"You dunce!" the master scolded him. "Why didn't you give the rest of the water to the plants? What right have you to waste even one drop of water in this temple?"

The young student attained Zen in that instant. He changed his name to Tekisui, which means a drop of water.

Writing the Zen Way an interview question answered by poet Joanne Kyger

2009-10-27T11:44:00.004-05:00

What does writing and the craft of poetry offer to you in means of a practice, in comparison to Zen meditation?

Well for me they are both practices that utilize awareness of breathing. Meditation practice focuses on inhaling and exhaling of breath. In my practice of writing I focus on putting the breath line on the page, the life of breath in the line. And a desire to see the mind reveal itself naturally, watch whatever arises, without forcing a direction to content. As a spiritual discipline, Zen Buddhism has its own lineages and practices. When American poets first became aware of Zen in the early 1950's through the translations and writings of D.T. Suzuki, there was a large jump into spontaneity, non-attainment, egolessness. "Beat Zen" emerged, a term of Allen Watts, as an easy and free floating, almost frivolous approach to Zen emerged. This was followed by the arrival in 1959 of Shunryu Suzuki in San Francisco, a Soto priest, who taught "just sit." Nothing to achieve, seek, gain, very little flashy entertainment. The Zen Center in San Francisco evolved from his arrival and American Buddhism took another step. There is no doubt that Zen Buddhism is being practiced in the United States as a part of an historical lineage but with American adaptations and assimilations. As adjunct to writing practice, meditation, whether Zen or not, has the ability to quiet and center the mind, to release energy, realize the basic emptiness of "I" and of the myriad thoughts that arise, the play of the mind. Have you read Charles Olson's Projective Verse? Breath goes into the line: "The line that's the baby that gets, as the poem is getting made, the attention, the control, that is right here, in the line, that the shaping takes place, each moment of the going." Essentially he talks about the poet's voice coming through their breath and syllable line. Some poets have a run-on line, and some have a short, jazzy breath line, like Robert Creeley's. Writing, like sitting, for me also involves a daily practice. I keep a note book with daily jottings, a way of keeping my hand in, whether a great poem appears or not. After sitting, the mind is usually more clear, calm and focused, and the writing reflects this, the mind has gone through its warm-ups.

Zen Flesh Zen Bones

2009-10-24T16:48:00.004-05:00

I would like to apologize for the sparse updates lately. With the coming of the new academic year, all of the Zen Everyday writers have become swamped. Personally, I have very little time to devote to zen, but I'm working on it.

My birthday was just a couple of weeks ago, and with a gift certificate, I purchased a copy of Zen Flesh Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki.

It is a collection of Zen and Pre-zen writings. It has been around for quite a while and has ushered many Westerners into the world of Zen.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Zen studies. One of our writers, Ceebs, has a profound interest in 101 Zen Stories, which is included in this text.

Anecdote from Gandhi

2009-10-09T09:27:00.001-05:00

An American woman who was his disciple said, “How do you avoid getting too depressed or hopeless and all this?” And Gandhi said, “What I do when something terrible like this happens is I reflect on the great mass of people in the country or even in the world.” There was this one place where two or three hundred people were shot by some British, and then there were fifteen or twenty police killed by a mob in such and such other town, and other bad things probably happened here and there, probably some murders in the country and a few things. But hundreds of millions of people cooked dinner for each other, helped each other washing the dishes, helped each other cross roads, brought water from a well, restrained themselves from feeling angry with their neighbor when they might have started a fight, calmed down in some situation where they could have escalated. The larger fabric of society involves people interacting with some degree of altruism and empathy for each other, some degree of self-restraint, or the whole place would be in flames.

Each Moment

2009-10-05T09:57:00.005-05:00

Each Moment-
A surprise
Unpredictable
Unknowable
But always an experience
An adventure in knowing
Seeing
Being
Letting go

Commentary-Last night I was thinking about all that we are capable of being attuned to at one moment. The initial thought that sparked the following thoughts was- I went to survey bats the other weekend and I thought about frequencies of hearing because bats produce sounds/calls out of human's range of hearing. Then I thought, what about all the other things that are "out of our range" that we're missing? I had a funny thought-if we were able to truly tune into all that was happening in one moment, we'd explode. The whole point is we are capable of noticing much more. I think we can tune in deeper if we try, are open to the unexpected and not overly concerned with ourselves or superficial worries. We still may not be able to hear bat's high frequencies, but we'll notice a lot more and be enriched from it.

This is an evening bat, they are very soft. See the hooks on their wings, they serve like our thumbs. Right now bats are suffering from "white nose syndrome" and many are dying; luckily in the MS area none have contracted the illness yet.

Be kind.

2009-09-23T23:55:00.002-05:00

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
-Dalai Lama

Stories that Tell on their Lives

2009-09-22T10:28:00.003-05:00

Events in time float
in the mind of beholders
Who have grown bolder,
seeking truth through millennia.
They see speedsters, shysters,
oldsters, youngsters,
Stuck in old rituals of servitude,
Repeating after death
their lives,
Old resentments,
as their accompaniment.
These watchers see other beings,
once ticketed for speed,
Speed past their lives
toward the next.
Who is right,
The repeaters,
or the non-heeders?
Life now takes a break
and waits,
As recollection and learning transpire
In the intervals between the lives,
in the schools of light.
Then comes the wake up call,
to wake up in the next life.
And the soul seed
proceeds toward birth.
Around it whiz
its scattered lives,
Moments foreshortened by age,
or forgotten in youth.
Lives and moments,
all momentary,
Watch each other.
Harmonies and discords
wait their turn
To tell their tale,
And trills,
trailing their lives,
Sound,
and each sound
Is like a shofar call,
Calling forth
births and deaths,
In their turn,
Till it is my turn,
this time.
Each life,
full of wishes,
Is like a window dressing,
that is wound down
At closing time.
And so, we die
into the interval between lives,
In the schools of light.

Like cars in traffic,
our story lives criss cross.
Can the highway bear
this merging traffic?
Past, present, future,
Are but temporary lanes
for temporal traffic,
Till lives pass,
And merge again
into the traffic swell.
Is there cause for alarm,
or violation, here,
Or an invitation to ride the traffic
to its home.
Beings midst other beings
maintain their circles and cycles,
And hold in their vortices
votary candles.
They wait to see who will speed
and who will stall,
Who will be waved
past it all,
Who is the waver,
and is there a waiver?
Some beings,
pushing off their gains,
Firing up their cylinders,
Try for more,
or less,
Siddartha as king?
Siddhartha as Buddha?
Until the off ramp is taken,
there will be watchers on this highway,
Highwaymen, pedestrians,
motorists, equestrians,
Some will find found a way,
past passing lanes,
stalls, and highway squalls,
They will enter
onto the Peace Bridge,
That Bridge of Peace,
And light flares,
to light the way,
For those seeking light
in their lives.
By: Paul Dolinsky

Mindfulness Gathas

2009-09-15T15:02:00.003-05:00

I have previously shared Earth Gathas, here are two mindfulness gathas I hope you enjoy!

The mind can go in a thousand directions.
But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, a gentle wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms.

Breathing in, I know that anger makes me ugly.
Breathing out, I do not want to be contorted by anger.
Breathing in, I know I must take care of myself.
Breathing out, I know loving kindness is the only answer.

My absence: I have not been on this site due to being far away in Black Rock City, Nevada with no computer or cell-phone service. While I was gone I attended the most amazing festival of all festivals-Burning Man. This is a place where I felt extremely free and in the presence of many compassionate people. I encourage you all to make a visit out here and experience it for yourself. Visit their website and read the history-it's fascinating. Here's a picture my friend Jeff took of people engaging in Acro Yoga.

Apologies, Twitter, and Waka

2009-09-08T11:19:00.001-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. With the school year starting, and me applying for a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, I've been rather busy.

In addition to that, I've started another blog: The Listerine Whitening Challenge.

So, on to Twitter.

As you should know, Zen Everyday has a twitter account that will update you every time there is a new post.

I do want to share a twitter account that I follow: DailyWaka. It's not "daily" like this is not "everyday", but it is updated with beautiful waka poetry often enough.

Waka poetry is Japanese syllabic poetry (like haiku and, my favorite, tanka).

Here are some tanka poems that I enjoy: I seem to have lost track of who wrote which poems, but they're all by Yosano Akiko and Mori Ogai.

By the way, a tanka poem has 5,7,5,7,7 syllable lines

Spring quickly passes,
everything perishes.
I cry out loud
whenever your touches
tingle my breasts.

A thousand strands
of glistening deep black hair
in tangles, tangles,
all intertangled
like my dreams of you.

without incident

another day is gone

while I keep gazing

at the unidentifiable

color of the wall

your heart

still remains unsettled

like the wavering

of a cosmos flower

after the bee is gone

into a pair of stars

we will turn--till then

let us never recall

autumn's voice

we heard in the same bed

grabbing one of

my numerous poetic curses

scrawled and thrown away

I hold down

a black butterfly

a clear spring

inside me overflowed

and grew muddy

you are a child of sin

and so am I

the sea inside my heart

unknown even to myself

has a rock under its surface

and wrecks any approaching ship

no matter how much I cry

Love through Exploring Sexuality and Sensuality: Deepak Chopra's "Kama Sutra"

2009-08-26T22:05:00.005-05:00

Even those who hunger for pleasures of the flesh are actually seeking the soul in disguise
--Deepak Chopra Kama Sutra pg 104

Unsatisfied with the translation of the Kama Sutra my library had to offer, I went in search of a quality text that had an excellent translation and, ideally, supplemental material that illuminated the beautiful notions from the text. I was not looking for a gimmicky text that focused on the Western interpretations of this ancient Indian artifact, but instead, one that embraced the spiritual nature of its message.
I found a text that fit my criteria and I have been in love with it ever since; Deepak Chopra’s Kama Sutra: Including the Seven Spiritual Laws of Love. The format is approachable, easy to read and incorporates beautiful artwork. The cover has a minimalist appearance; crisp and clean and certainly coffee table worthy. Upon the initial flip-through, you’ll notice stunning pen and ink drawings, paintings, colored pencil sketches and other mediums used to create a sensual and tasteful visual enhancement to the vibrant text.

Chopra has created a text that, no doubt, will offer contemporary couples a vehicle by which to strengthen their relationship through sensuality and procure a deepened understanding of what love is. A supplement to the original text comes at the end of the book and is entitled the “Seven Spiritual Laws of Love” which are as follows:

First Stage: Attraction
Second Stage: Infatuation
Third Stage: Communion
Fourth Stage: Intimacy
Fifth Stage: Surrender and Non-Attachment
Sixth Stage: Passion
Seventh Stage: Ecstasy

Chopra goes on to expound on these stages; what they include, how to cultivate them and what they mean in regards to your relationship. Chopra’s thesis is a liberating one as he views, and encourages others to view, the Kama Sutra as a spiritual text. He states on page 7: “In the West, sex and spirit have been tragically divorced,” suggesting that we, as readers, should look past our “prudish” nature and embrace our sexuality and accept it, as Freud defined, as an inherent attribute of humans (Chopra 7).

My favorite part of the book is Chapter 3: Images of Love. The chapter offers readers, alongside magnificent artistic endeavors, beautiful and inspirational passages on the topic of Love. The following are some of my favorite:

--Losing yourself in sex is a pleasure. Finding yourself in sex is a blessing (95).
--To know what love really is, you must discover that you are love (92).
--For everyone love is the journey. Those we call lovers realize that this is true (96).
--Don’t shout your dreams to the world—whisper them to love (102).
--Sex is nourishing, but sex without love is like trying to grow a rose with sun but no water (111).
--In sex we reveal who we are. Lovers rejoice in this, those who only pretend to love hate it (110).
--Orgasm is the body’s bliss. If you add love, it becomes the soul’s bliss (113).

I seek to make these amazing passages part of my everyday life as I meditate on the beauty of love and the magnificence of my sexuality. I encourage you to explore the principles of this book with your lover and work to strengthen the spiritual bond that the two of you share and find yourself in the embracing nature of sex, affection and sensuality; for “in love, all things are made new” (106).

The book can be found at these retailers:

Amazon:
Kama Sutra - Deepak Chopra

Barnes and Noble:
Kama Sutra - Deepak Chopra

Books-a-Million:
Kama Sutra - Deepak Chopra

When it is hot, be completely hot. When it is cold, be completely cold.

2009-08-24T15:02:00.004-05:00

by Rev. Kinrei Bassis

Reprinted from Santa Barbara Buddhist Priory Newsletter July--August 1997

"One day a monk asked Great Master Tozan Gohon, 'How can we avoid hot and cold? 'Tozan said, 'Why don't you go somewhere that is neither hot nor cold?' The monk asked, 'Where is a place that is neither hot nor cold? 'Tozan replied, 'When it is cold, be completely cold; when it is hot, be completely hot.'"1

Commentary (not from me): This reponse of Great Master Tozan has the appearance of being one of those puzzling Zen type answers: the way to not be hot is to allow yourself to be hot. Yet this is not an illogical answer but one that points us in a very direct way to one of the most important spiritual truths. We all face the suffering of being too hot and too cold. What does it mean to "be completely hot"? The deepest solution to all the problems we face lies not in changing and manipulating the external circumstances of our life, but in finding the Buddha within everything.

The normal human response to suffering is to try to find a way to escape; when we are hot and not comfortable, we seek to be more comfortable by finding a place which is cooler. It is obviously a good thing to eliminate unnecessary suffering, yet the problem in life is that we cannot stop the hot and cold of suffering from frequently enveloping us. I can remember having a difficult and depressing job. I would come home from work and desperately try to find a way to distract myself. I would often immediately fill my apartment with music, so that the music occupied me and obscured the feelings of emptiness and uneasiness that would arise when I was silent and still. I was always trying to be doing something, doing anything: watching television, reading, hiking, socializing. Keeping myself compulsively busy with work or entertainment allowed me to avoid having to confront the seemingly depressing reality of my life. Yet it is not surprising that I would live in this manner since I was following one of the most basic principles guiding behavior, to try to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. If being aware of suffering seems to only increase my feelings of suffering, why should I not try to avoid looking at all my suffering? And why should I not try to seek to find all the pleasures and enjoyment that I can in my life?

The Four Noble Truths help explain Great Master Tozan's answer, and why seeking pleasure and avoiding pain does not help us to solve the problem of suffering. The First Noble Truth is "suffering exists". Awareness of this fundamental fact of life is that which brings people to look for a solution in Buddhism. Some of us have confronted great trials and enormous pain in life. Others have experienced just a cold emptiness, a lack of heartfelt meaning or hope.

The Second Noble Truth is suffering is due to attachment. The normal human way to escape suffering is to build a life which maximizes the situations we enjoy and minimizes those we find bothersome or unpleasant. Yet what Great Master Tozan told the monk was not to avoid hot and cold but to find the place that is neither hot nor cold. We try holding on to that which brings us pleasure, but this is no solution, for uncontrollable change moves through everything, leaving us no true refuge in which to escape suffering. Birth places us in a cycle that inevitably brings disease and death. The fact that we cannot control the universe means our relationships with other people, our livelihood, the overall social and political climate, all of these may become unpleasant or even monstrous, and we, as individuals, cannot control everything and make our existence and our world into what we desire. Everything can and will fall apart: our bodies, our loved ones, the entire world. And this fact is a burning truth that is always gnawing at the edges of our life, pointing out to us the very precarious nature of everything we hold so dear.

The Third Noble Truth is there is a cessation of suffering; Nirvana exists. There is this place within our hearts that no fires can touch and no cold can penetrate. This is the place of true freedom from suffering, and awakening to this Truth is the true promise of Buddhist training.
Yet even if we have the faith that Nirvana exists, how do we find this Truth for ourselves? When the fires of suffering are burning us what can we do to find relief? The Fourth Noble Truth gives us the answer: to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is really just a description of Buddhist training. And what Buddhism teaches us is to learn to accept everything, both the very hot and the very cold. It is pointing us to a very simple solution for suffering, but one which can be very hard to do when we are burning. We need to be still with an open and all-accepting heart and mind. By pushing nothing away, no matter how frightening or unpleasant, we learn that there is nothing that we need to fear, that our True heart will not be damaged by the fires of suffering. We also do not need to grasp after anything, no matter how desirable or joyful, for all those pleasures are fleeting and do not provide a true refuge from the storms of our suffering.

There is a place within us that no suffering can touch, that fulfills our heart's deepest needs no matter what external trials life takes us through. It is a deep act of faith to sit still in the midst of suffering and not run away, and it is that faith that unlocks our hearts and allows us to open ourselves to the Unborn. We all need to be willing to accept the "hot" and the "cold" and have faith that nothing in our lives, or in the entire world, is outside the Buddha.
1Dogen: Shobogenzo, Vol. 2. Translated by Kosen Nishiyama [Sendai, Japan, Dihokkaikaku, 1977, p. 33].

Buddhism and The Environment

2009-08-18T17:48:00.003-05:00

"We humans are made entirely of non-human elements, such as plants, minerals, earth, clouds, and sunshine. For our practice to be deep and true, we must include the ecosystem. If the environment is destroyed, humans will be destroyed, too. Protecting human life is not possible without also protecting the lives of animals, plants, and minerals. The Diamond Sutra teaches us that it is impossible to distinguish between sentient and non-sentient beings. This is one of many ancient Buddhist texts that teach deep ecology. Every Buddhist practitioner should be a protector of the environment. Minerals have their own lives, too. In Buddhist monasteries, we chant, "Both sentient and non- sentient beings will realize full enlightenment." The First Precept is the practice of protecting all lives, including the lives of minerals."

-Thich Nhat Hanh

That quote is from Hanh's The First Precept: Reverence for Life.

Helping the environment in which we live has always been a buddhist teaching. By using non-violent, eco-sustainable, and vegetarian ways of life, they not only protect life, they promote it.

The Dalai Lama on The Environment:

"Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we know is the case only if we care for it. It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past that resulted from ignorance. Today, however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations.

As people alive today, we must consider future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility towards others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it.

Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities that lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth´s living things.

This lack of respect extends even to the earth´s human descendants, the future generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace does not become a reality, and if destruction of the natural environment continues at the present rate.

Our beautiful world is facing many crises.... It is not a time to pretend everything´s good.

Many of the earth´s habitats, animals, plants, insects and even micro-organisms that we know to be rare may not be known at all by future generations. We have the capability and the responsibility to act; we must do so before it is too late.

Just as we should cultivate gentle and peaceful relations with our fellow human beings, we should also extend that same kind of attitude towards the natural environment. Morally speaking, we should be concerned for our whole environment.

This, however, is not just a question of morality or ethics, but a question of our own survival. For this generation and for future generations, the environment is very important. If we exploit the environment in extreme ways, we will suffer, as will our future generations. When the environment changes, the climatic condition also changes. When the climate changes dramatically, the economy and many other things change. Our physical health will be greatly affected. Again, conservation is not merely a question of morality, but a question of our own survival.

Therefore, in order to achieve more effective environmental protection and conservation, internal balance within the human being himself or herself is essential. The negligence of the environment, which has resulted in great harm to the human community, resulted from our ignorance of the very special importance of the environment. We must now help people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people to understand the need for environmental protection. We must teach people that conservation directly aids our survival.

We are all here on this planet, as it were, as tourists. None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years. So while we are here we should try to have a good heart and to make something positive and useful of our lives. Whether we live just a few years or a whole century, it would be truly regrettable and sad if we were to spend that time aggravating the problems that afflict other people, animals, and the environment. The most important thing is to be a good human being. "

It is important for people to "think globally, act locally". Please, support your local farmers--especially those who use organic methods. Volunteer, adopt a highway, recycle; do whatever you can to help out.

Where I live, my good friend has started a blog to promote the "greening" of our city. You can check it out at Mobile Goes Green.

It is up to everyone to take care of the earth and eachother.

Namaste.

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

2009-08-17T11:35:00.002-05:00

Karmapa means "the one who carries out buddha-activity" or "the embodiment of all the activities of the buddhas." In the Tibetan tradition, great enlightened teachers are said to be able to consciously arrange to be reborn as a teacher who can carry on the teachings of a predecessor in a prior life. Pursuant to this tradition, the Karmapas have incarnated in this form of manifestation body (Skt. nirmanakaya), for seventeen lifetimes, as of the present, and all have played the most important role in preserving and propagating the Buddhist teachings of Tibet.

Prior to the birth of the first Karmapa, the arrival of a Buddhist master who would be known as the Karmapa had been prophesied by the historic Buddha Shakyamuni and the great tantric master of India, Guru Padmasambhava. Throughout the centuries, Karmapas have been the central figure in the continuation of the vajrayana lineage in general and Kagyu lineage in particular, and have played a very important role in the preservation of the study and practice lineages of Buddhism.
More Background Info: http://www.kagyuoffice.org/karmapa.html

His Holiness explained that there are many ways to protect the environment. One simple manner of conduct is for us to contemplate the origin of products that we use daily, tracing back how it was made. Products we use start from a raw material source, and energy is consumed to get it to your table. We should consider that we can choose products and use products that are eco-friendly. Tracing the origins of products is one of the many methods that His Holiness introduced. His Holiness also conveyed that the protection of the environment is truly a Buddhist act as it benefits the whole ecosystem. Video:http://www.kagyuoffice.org/karmapa.currentactivities.html#HisHolinessgivesinstructionsaboutenvironmentalconsciousness

108 Things You Can Do to Help the Environment- I loved these because there were some new ideas I hadn't thought of. It's geared toward monasteries, but you can do these things individually or gather friends for the same purpose. http://www.kagyuoffice.org/Images-09/09-0420-108Solutions/108_Things_to_Do.pdf

3 Webpages that help me every day.

2009-08-16T08:50:00.005-05:00

Like many of you, I have some sleep trouble--things like getting to sleep, waking up on time, feeling refreshed, sleeping through the entire night, etc.

I've stumbledupon these websites before and found them quite helpful (unlike most websites.

Health Fitness Tips

The Daily Mind

Iowa Avenue

Individually, I found them to be good, but together they are great.

However, if I'm going to be honest with myself, I only use one page from each of these websites.

Daily Health Task List - from Health Fitness Tips

No More Excuses - A 13 Minute Workout - Iowa Avenue

17 Ways to Wake Up Feeling Fresh in the Morning - The Daily Mind

For copyright reasons, I can't post the content, but above are screenshots ... that aren't so tiny if you click on them. :) No matter. I encourage all of you to go to the sites, check them out, bookmark them, and use the tips every day to have a happier and healthier life.

Part of leading a Zen lifestyle is taking care of your health. So get to it!

Namaste.

"Ain't No Reason" by Brett Dennen

2009-08-10T11:04:00.003-05:00

There ain’t no reason things are this way.
Its how they always been and they intend to stay.
I can't explain why we live this way, we do it everyday.
Preachers on the podium speakin’ of saints,
Prophets on the sidewalk beggin’ for change,
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape, cursing my name.
I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same,
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing,
You can spend your whole life workin’ for something
Just to have it taken away.
People walk around pushing back their debts,
Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets,
Talking ‘bout nothing, not thinking ‘bout death,
Every little heartbeat, every little breath.
People walk a tight rope on a razors edge
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons.
It could be a bomb or a bullet or a pen
Or a thought or a word or a sentence.
There Ain't no reason things are this way.
It's how they always been and they intend to stay
I don’t know why I say the things I say, but I say them anyway.

But love will come set me free
Love will come set me free,
I do believe Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set me free, yes.

Prison walls still standing tall,
Some things never change at all.
Keep on buildin’ prisons, gonna fill them all,
Keep on buildin’ bombs, gonna drop them all.
Working your fingers bear to the bone,
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul.
Like a lung that’s filled with coal, suffocatin’ slow.
The wind blows wild and I may move,
The politicians lie and I am not fooled.
You don't need no reason or a three piece suit to argue the truth.
The air on my skin and the world under my toes,
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes,
Chaos and commotion wherever I go, love I try to follow.

Love will come set me free
Love will come set me free, I do believe
Love will come set me free, I know it will
Love will come set me free, yes.

There ain't no reason things are this way
It’s how they always been and they intend to stay
I can't explain why we live this way, we do it everyday.

Commentary: I heard this live on the radio last night and loved it! You can listen to it here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwVyRH2B8A Brett Dennen is a part of a group called Love Speaks-The Power of Music to Make Change and I find this inspiring. The gifts we have go beyond ourselves and we should use them to make a positive difference.

I highlighted the lyrics that I found most powerful/relatable to Buddhism. Speaking up for peace & justice and doing our part to promote positive change is important & necessary. We can't control the world...only ourselves...guided by love we can't go wrong. Even though the world is the way it is, it's all interconnected and we have to remind ourselves of these connections in the decisions/actions we make.

An Inspirational Story

2009-08-07T09:22:00.003-05:00

Laetitia et Guillaume's blog

Here's their site: Turn of the World (click the footprints in the top left).

French couple backpacks from Florida to Argentina. Along the way
they adopt a little cat. Awesomely cute story.

Their story: (translated via Google Translator)

MIAMI - USHUAIA

A paper called money

Laetitia et Guillaume, a young french couple of 23 and 26 years
from Miami on 27 September 2008, with the objective:

reach Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego

entirely on foot and with 1 euro a day each

History:

1 euro each, 15 000km, 13 countries, 3 years running.

Some are willing to kill people for a paper called money.

In a world of economic crisis where money becomes obsessive and to live without money is hard, this young couple explore the concept of money through meetings, poor, rich, middle class, each explained how they live or survive.

Still believe in this phrase "money can not buy happiness" is through the way that no man will discover, learn, suffer and seek answers to their questions.

You will share their adventures at a man with both cameras and their companion Kitty, a cat appeared two months on the road in Louisiana. Sacré destiny for a chat!

More than a walk, a look at a rapidly changing society.

Truth

2009-08-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend: "Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.

"In all my experience, however, Bankei's voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard."

From 101zenstories.com

What a wonderful story. How wonderful it is to be enlightened.

Earth Gathas-Recycling

2009-07-30T13:57:00.005-05:00

Recycling

In the garbage, I see a rose.

In the rose, I see the garbage.

Everything is in transformation.

Even permanence is impermanent.

Whenever we throw something away, whether in the garbage can, the compost, or the recycling, it can smell terrible. Rotting organic matter smells especially terrible. But it can also become rich compost for fertilizing the garden. The fragrant rose and the stinking garbage are two sides of the same existence. Without one, the other cannot be. Everything is in transformation. The rose that wilts after six days will become a part of the garbage. After six months the garbage is transformed into a rose. When we speak of impermanence, we understand that everything is in transformation. This becomes that, and that becomes this. Looking deeply, we can contemplate one thing and see everything else in it. We are not disturbed by change when we see the interconnectedness and continuity of all things. It is not that the life of any individual is permanent, but that life itself continues. When we identify ourselves with life and go beyond the boundaries of a separate identity, we shall be able to see permanence in the impermanent, or the rose in the garbage.

Liao Fan's Four Lessons

2009-07-29T12:09:00.003-05:00

Liao-Fan wrote these lessons for his son. They are brilliant, but a bit long for a blog. Instead of copy and pasting the entire lesson, I will post the final bit of each four, with links to the full lesson; if you so desire to read more--as I think you should, since these tiny bits don't cover the many lessons within each larger lesson. The links are underlined, the titles of each lesson are in bold.

The First Lesson: Learning to Create Destiny

Liao-Fan:One needs to be able to detect one’s faults everyday in order to correct them everyday. If one is unable to detect any faults in oneself, then improvement of character is out of the question. There are many intelligent people in the world who refuse to cultivate morality and virtue, and cannot put forth diligent effort in their work. Their failures later in life are owed to a single word - laziness.

The Second Lesson: Ways to Reform

Narrator: One’s heart may feel confused and oppressed, lacking energy and spirit. One becomes extremely forgetful, full of worries and feels embarrassed and depressed upon meeting a virtuous person. One becomes displeased at hearing proper reasoning and when showing kindness to others, is in turn treated with hostility. One will constantly have nightmares where everything is upside-down and will talk incoherently and behave abnormally. These are the symptoms of those who have accumulated too many offenses and transgressions!

Liao-Fan: If we have any of the above symptoms, we can immediately gather our willpower and reform all faults. It is necessary to form a new life and not delay!

The Third Lesson: The Way to Cultivate Kindness

Liao-Fan: Even if we cannot stop eating meat immediately, we can still try to gradually reduce our meat intake until vegetarianism is accomplished. In this way, we can reach a higher state of compassion within our heart. Also, we need to refrain from killing any living creature, even insects. Man makes silk from the cocoons of silkworms. The cocoons have to be boiled in water first, with the silkworms inside. Think about it, how many silkworms lose their lives in the process?

When we cultivate the land for farming, how many insects have to be killed? We need to be aware of the cost in lives involved in our everyday food and clothing. We kill to provide for ourselves. Therefore, we need to be conservative and value the food and clothing we have. To waste them would create the same violation as killing.

How often have we unknowingly harmed or stepped on a living creature? With a little awareness, we can prevent this from happening. Tung-Pwo Su, a great poet from the Sung Dynasty once wrote…

Tung-Pwo Su: In love of the mice, we often leave him some rice. In pitying the moth, we won’t light the lamp.

The Fourth Lesson: The Benefit of the Virtue of Humility

Narrator: "Those who have their hearts set on attaining success and fame, will surely attain success and fame. Those who have their hearts set on attaining wealth and position, will surely attain wealth and position."

Liao-Fan: A person who has great and far-reaching goals is like a tree having roots. A tree with roots will eventually sprout into branches, leaves and flowers. A person who has set down great and far reaching goals must be humble in every thought and try to relieve another’s burden even if the occurrence is as insignificant as a speck of dust.

Narrator: If one can reach this level of humility, one will naturally touch the hearts of earth and heaven.

I realize that this post is a bit long, but, if you've read it--and, hopefully, the texts linked to--, you will reap great metaphysical benefits. These lessons are found on thehttp://www.buddhanet.net/ website. It is a wonderful site with many help texts, links and multi-media tools.This is from my regular blog (http://bacchusdivine.blogspot.com).

Do unto others..

2009-07-22T13:29:00.002-05:00

"Our schoolmaster used to take a nap every afternoon," related a disciple of Soyen Shaku. "We children asked him why he did it and he told us: 'I go to dreamland to meet the old sages just as Confucius did.' When Confucius slept, he would dream of ancient sages and later tell his followers about them.

"It was extremely hot one day so some of us took a nap. Our schoolmaster scolded us. 'We went to dreamland to meet the ancient sages the same as Confucius did,' we explained. 'What was the message from those sages?' our schoolmaster demanded. One of us replied: 'We went to dreamland and met the sages and asked them if our schoolmaster came there every afternoon, but they said they had never seen any such fellow.'"

From 101zenstories.com

Commentary: It is hard for people to take us seriously when all we to is scold them for what we are selves do as well. What ever the reason we break rules that we set for others, we have to have a set and physical reason for having that rule, and be willing to follow it ourselves. Otherwise, It is much harder to have the respect of others, and we as people surrounded by others need to have that respect and need to give it as well. So let us be critical of ourselves first, and others later.

Having Trouble Meditating? Try this!

2009-07-21T18:10:00.008-05:00

Binaural Beats.

I'm a huge fan of binaural beats; there's little better for my migraines. Binaural Beats, however, aren't just for relieving headaches. They can also help you relax, fall asleep, concentrate, and, yes, even meditate.

The way they work is by broadcasting certain frequencies into specific ears. The different frequencies each affect the brain in unique ways. (AKA You must use headphones!)

It can be broken down as follows:

Frequency range
Name
Usually associated with:

> 40 Hz
Gamma waves
Higher mental activity, including perception, problem solving, fear, and consciousness

13–40 Hz
Beta waves
Active, busy or anxious thinking and active concentration, arousal, cognition

7–13 Hz
Alpha waves
Relaxation (while awake), pre-sleep and pre-wake drowsiness

4–7 Hz
Theta waves
Dreams, deep meditation, REM sleep

> 4 Hz
Delta waves
Deep dreamless sleep, loss of body awareness

You can find a lot of meditation "helper" mp3s online for free. Most of them begin in Alpha and then gradually move into Theta and then back into Alpha. Some of these have guided meditations, while others are simply the "beats"--occasionally accompanied by "relaxing" sounds (like the ocean or a light rain).

For beginners at meditation, like me, I highly recommend using binaural beats to encourage and emphasize the good affects of meditation. I use it for sleep (sometimes) and often for headache relief.

Though you can use it through your computer, I prefer using it on my ipod touch. So for you iPhone and iPod Touch users, I use Binaural Beats. There's another app that's supposed to be pretty good called: Brain Hack. Of course, you can always just download the premade mp3s and use them with any mp3 player, burn them to a cd, or use them on your computer.

When at my computer, I use several different websites to find just the right beat for me.
Healing Beats is probably my favorite. It's free, has several options, and have some premade specifically for meditation.

For those of you that like to do things on your own, there is a free program called Gnaural that will allow you to create your own binaural beats--even to your favorite songs.

Wiki Links:

Binaural Beats

Electroencephalography (EEG) (aka brainwaves)

Next Gatha- "Touching the Earth"

2009-07-17T10:24:00.003-05:00

Earth brings us into life

and nourishes us.

Earth takes us back again.

We are born and we die with every breath.

The Earth is our mother. All life arises from her and is nourished by her. Each of us is a child of the Earth and, at some time, the Earth will take us back to her again. In fact, we are continuously coming to life and returning to the bosom of the Earth. We who practice meditation should be able to see birth and death in every breath. Touching the earth, letting your fingers feel the soil, and gardening are wonderful, restorative activities. If you live in a city, you may not have many opportunities to hoe the earth, plant vegetables, or take care of flowers. But you can still find and appreciate a small patch of grass or earth and care for it. Being in touch with Mother Earth is a wonderful way to preserve your mental health.

Commentary-
In the title the key word is "touching." Nature is meant to be experienced with all senses. At the same time, it's important to leave nature as it is. A friend of mine likes to say the quote "leave nothing but your footprints." I'm not usually political, but there is a new act trying to be passed in the Senate called the "No Child Left Inside" Act (S. 866). This act gets children outside learning in & about nature. With our Planet going through so much environmental change, this act is more important than ever. Please e-mail, call or write a letter to your Senator to get this passed. AL-http://shelby.senate.gov/public/

What Meditation Really Is

2009-07-16T01:30:00.005-05:00

What Meditation Really Is

A lecture by Sangharakshita
from freebuddhistaudio

Complete talk

Proceed to download for broadband (mp3)

Listen online (mp3 stream)

Tracks: (If the embedded audio doesn't work, just click the title to be taken to the mp3 file)

1. Awareness and misunderstandings of meditation (15:38)

2. Levels of consciousness (13:50)

3. Indirect methods of raising consciousness (16:30)

4. Integration and mindfulness (10:02)

5. The five hindrances; objects of meditation (11:46)

6. Levels of absorption (9:59)

7. Insight (5:38)

Here's just the beginning of the transcript

Tape 121: What Meditation Really Is - Edited Version

In the course of the last few decades quite a number of changes have taken place in different parts of the world, particularly, perhaps, in the Western world. Political changes have taken place, as well as social changes, cultural changes, and also great technological changes. We might even go so far as to say that in the course of the last few decades more changes have taken place in the world, and in the Western world in particular, than during any comparable period in human history.

So far as human affairs, at least, are concerned, in the course of the last decade or more we have seen a constantly accelerating rate of change. More and more changes seem to be taking place, within shorter and ever shorter periods of time. Formerly, when the pace was slower, and you had time to `grow up', several generations might elapse before a change in some particular department of life started becoming noticeable. But this is no longer the case. Now these changes are noticeable in the course of a single lifetime, even in the space of a single decade - or half a decade. And we see this constantly accelerating rate of change in practically all fields of human life and human endeavour, whether political, social, economic, or cultural.

But in this lecture we are concerned with just one of those fields, which I shall call - to use a good, neutral, general term - the cultural field. In this particular field, one of the biggest, one of the greatest, and also potentially one of the most important changes to have taken place in recent years in with regard to the subject of meditation.