Lost Coin Meeting Notes January 8, 2008

Patricia is in charge of finances.

Rebecca is Daniel?s assistant and can help with other matters.

The nature of the group is personal. Visitors are invited to come once, but after that they should decide to join the group. It is important for the group to form a bond.

The Group sits (Daniel will work with students interested in Koan practice) on Thursday nights at Joan?s studio (5:30-6:30) (618 West Capitol Street (618 north, 55 west)).

There will be a retreat April 11 ? 13th at Boulder Mountain Lodge, Boulder, Utah.

For those just joining the group, there are notes on the internet and a reading list.

The Group is called the Lost Coin. There is a parable in Buddhism about a person who thinks they are poor ? but all along there is a coin in their pocket (the possibility of awakening). But they think it is in someone else?s pocket. But it is your?s, you just need to realize it.

You should not expect a total make-over, what you can expect is a small, permanent change that will make a big change in your life. If you want to be something other than who you are ? look at that. You don't change completely, but how you use your mind will change.

Daniel watched the Peaceful Warrior on TV. The film ends with the teacher?s voice in the student?s head:

   What are you?

   Here

   Who are you?

   This Moment

Everything we think is a projection into the past or future, but fundamentally you are only what you are in this moment.

The Work is to remember who you are and that requires sitting and practice to realize. It will make you much more free and more pleasant to be around. Work on self-remembering ? saying ?I am? always you puts you in the moment.

Most people see life as a story. The ?Now? has a lot of depth. It is where everything interesting and magical happens. Maintain for as long as possible inner silence ? where nothing is going on ? you have complete freedom. Whenever you can break habitats, e.g., if you drink coffee with your right had, drink it with the left; if you get up at 7am, get up at 6am ? erode ?the story? that keeps you from being here.

Daniel asked for examples of self-remembering ? follow the warrior path, the warrior doesn't worry, things don't get better when you worry. Here are a few:
   -Able to see habitual fear
   -Able to catch themselves creating a situation that was mind-spin, not real, felt more clarity
   -Saw old movie of themselves when they were young, from a young age they were the ?observer? in the family. They are exactly the same today.
   -When don't practice really get into story ? easy to slip into mechanistic behavior
   -The spaces between self-remembering are getting shorter.

Daniel reminded us to watch gender ? we don't need to be male or female, in the moment we don't have gender. Also, the less energy you spend on your story (identifying) gives you more energy.

Inner Considering  When you do things because you have other people?s voice in your head ? doing what you think others want of you vs. listening to your own inner voice.

Why do we inner consider? Because we are scared and want someone to blame for not doing what we want.

Daniel asked for examples of inner considering:

-With a father-in-law, one student was inner considering about taking care of him out of obligation, then changed her mind. Ultimately she decided to jump into life and then decided she would help ? but felt at that point it was her choice. It felt cleaner, things also fell into place.

Daniel is of Jewish decent but did not have a religious up-bringing ? his Father was spiritual. When Daniel had his first son, his Father asked if he was going to have the baby circumcised. Daniel didn?t want to. His Father said it was a tradition and would never speak to him again if he didn?t. Daniel had his son circumcised (it wasn?t as bad as he thought it would be). He was upset that he caved into his Father?s wishes. Daniel knew his Father wouldn?t stop speaking to him, but he let himself get scared.

It is good to do what you want and let others do what they want.

Inner silence breaks the story. Everyone should do ? hour of sitting every morning. This practice is different from zen meditation that is about quieting the mind and letting thoughts run through. This practice suspends thoughts.

If you are asleep, your story is living you ? which has lots of fears and inner considering.

One thing you shouldn?t do is make yourself miserable. When Daniel was studying Zen at Zen Mountain Monastery, at night they would recite the four vows, ?sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save (help that care of them).? Daniel was head of administration and people were driving him crazy. His teacher Daido saw that Daniel was upset. He asked him if he knew the vows and which beings did he have in mind? We take them abstractly ? take them concretely, for Daniel that means with this group.

Gurdjieff was asked how to love? He said we aren?t capable of it. But you can learn, start simply with a plant, then a dog, it may take 10 years to then relate to people. As warriors don't make anyone miserable, know how others experience you. Cut off 90% of your stuff that makes others unhappy but without inner considering. Come from the warrior.

Practicing to be alive in the most wonderful way ? don't you want to do that
