Lost Coin Class Notes:  February 12, 2008

Reminder:  Sitting at Joan's on Thursday night.  Come.  Support each other's practice.

Daniel will continue to give talks Monday night at the Zen Center, the next one is on 2/25 and every Monday in March.  5:30 until 7pm

Sitting

There are a number of ways to sit.  Practice any of these preferred ways, depending on your need:

   1.	Count the breath.  Count in and out with the breath.  Count breath to 10 and when you notice that the mind has wandered, start over at one again.  This method helps improve concentration.

   2.	Koan study.  This method of study and sitting needs to be with the guidance of the teacher.  There are over 700 koans.  When sitting, one needs to be one with the koan.  Start the sitting with focus on breath or shikantaza and when the mind is quiet, be the koan.  Daniel will help you.

   3.	Shikantaza.  This is sitting without a goal.  No grasping.  No striving.

   4.	Mu Shin (No Mind-Heart).  Suspend thought.  Drop all conceptual thought.  Just stop.  As soon as one empties the mind, experience everything fill it.  Become intimate and one with your world.

Posture is important:

Hand position:  Pre-Zen was Taoist concepts of the five elements (earth, air, fire, water and space).  These correspond to the five fingers of the hand.  With your hands, form the mudra with thumbs lightly touching, forming a flat bridge suspended over the hands.  Left hand is cupped by the right hand.  The circular formation is likened to a lotus flower.  Stay aware: the hand mudra is indicative of your posture for if the thumbs touch too lightly or fall apart, you are sitting too loosely and need to realign.  If your thumbs are touching too hard and buckling upward, then you are sitting too tightly and need to soften and relax.  Rest the forearms/hands across the thighs.  Sit alert.

Daniel has some preferences for those studying in Lost Coin
   -do koan study
   -increase you sitting time (25 to 30 minutes or more)
   -sit with a partner
   -study a martial art
   -maintain good relationships especially with each other in the group.  Be positive, intimate, honest and emotionally real.  Be sensitive to what you say and the things you do with others.  (Reference to the movie 'Butterfly and the Diving Bell') Have the sensitivity to put your self in the place of other, do that with each other'be sensitive to each other.

The 'I's?

Mapping the different parts of you.

Often we look at what others want.  Start looking at what you want, not just what others want.  We allow ourselves to be controlled by what we think others want from us.  By being who others want us to be, you deny who you are.  Act as though you are an orphan.  We all truly share in having the desire to be who we really are.  In our kindness to the other, give each other the power to be True Self.

It is important to look at our disconnect-discover your disconnect, the disowned part of you.  We have the tendency to look outside for the answers.  Search your mind.  By finding mind, you find self.  By becoming cognizant of the disowned self, you can recognize that you have the strength to withstand certain kinds of behavior without acting out.  In doing this, you can step back and not internalize others behavior toward you.

When one denies the 'voices' of the self, they come out anyway.  Thus, in spite of the fact that we think we are deluding others, everyone sees it.  We are deluding our selves.  Discover the part of the self that values truth over creating a 'better story'.  Emerson reference - I'd rather be truthful than consistent.

Practice STOP YOUR MIND

MuShin-No mind-heart.  When you do traditional practice, the danger is that the minute you stop sitting, you stop having that state of mind.  It is important to train in staying with No-Mind/As Is Mind.  This will transform you.  Practice and train in meditation in action. Learn to stop the mind as often as you can.  BE HERE.  No observation.  Practice what Carlos Casteneda refers to as inner silence.  Practice this whenever you can.  By sitting on the cushion, you feed that ability to stay with inner silence.  As you become stronger in practice, you will find that you return to who you really are.  It is imperative that you take this into everyday life.  If you do not practice this way, your overall practice will suffer.

As you practice on the cushion and in life, be True Self, that which is not born and doesn't die.  When you are in this space, then look at the disowned parts of self, they will not be so well defended by ego.  The more you 'think', the more you are your ego.  Yes, we all have ego, but that is not the true self.  As one practices being True Self, the other parts are easier to disentangle and disengage from.  As the shift occurs over time (be patient), the empty mind is you-is everything-is True Self, and one becomes more flexible, fluid in life and sensitive to others.

Lost Coin philosophies embrace Zen (emphasis on realization and enlightenment) and Fourth Way (objective about the self-can only be objective is you can see who you are).  Nothing will stop your suffering unless you understand who you are.  Only through training yourself in seeing/being your truest and deepest nature can you discover that YOU ARE EVERYTHING.  By seeing the shadow self, you can then embrace and not disown all parts of the Self, thus relieving your suffering.  One thus the need to understand in words goes away.  Be the non-conceptual mind.

The most singular way to improve your life is to be nice to people, everything else is too complicated.

So, what is it that we really need to know?  What is the most essential thing?

Zazen

Zazen allows you to see deeper and deeper.  When walking around, your ego will run into obstacles.  It is the teacher's job to make sure you don't get stuck.  They will guide you through his/her clear seeing. This week practice:  Stop mind.  If you want to do something, you must put effort into it.  Work hard, and then work harder still.
