Notes from September 9th, 2008

Daniel's Zen name, Doen, means the way of the circle.  But it's not a closed circle. You are the person who closes the circle.  

Daniel will teach us by saying enough so that we can figure out the rest for ourselves.  He noted that if someone gets too excited and talks too much about something, it takes it away from us.  It's the same with koan study.  Daniel will give a hint and allow us to see it for ourselves. 

Once you put it together, it's yours.  

The retreat will have an emphasis on emptiness.  The more superficial understanding of emptiness is that everything is empty because everything is transitory.  Empty really means no thought, as thought makes things "things." 

We're travelers, who go through life and then we're gone.  This life will go.  You'll get older and you'll look back and think you're missing something.  

The idea of being a traveler should give you great courage. You can't mess up so much, you can be brave, you can be free, as everything will change on the journey.  Think about dying at 80, you're tired already, you've gotten used to the idea that it will be over, and you just go out.  

Because everything is empty, you can do what you really want, you can really be free, but you must have the heart for it.  When Daniel was growing up, people would say, "That guy has heart."  They meant "that guy has courage."

Because you're free to be any of the I's (cluster of personality traits), you can accommodate any situation.  Being empty is to be able to adapt as necessary, including being "wrong" and not having to be "right" all the time.  

It's important to note that the areas that you dismiss or put down are the very areas where your I's are not developed.  Many of you have I's that are not developed with respect to money and the marketplace. Developing that part is important, that's why we spend a lot of time on this in the group.  

If you put down sexuality, it's an area you have not developed and are not competent in.  If you put down love and are cynical in love, then this is an area you have not developed.  If you are empty, however, you have the whole piano to play, you can use all the keys.  

The whole idea of emptiness is very profound. We study the parts of the self that you have lost, as in the Lost Coin.  We're looking for a radical departure from the models you've been taught about what a powerful person is like.  Movies show the wrong model.

Behavior that is the most adaptable creates the most powerful person. The amount of time a truly powerful person spends being aggressive is radically off from what is shown in t.v. and movies, where you win by being aggressive instead of being the most adaptable.  In Lost Coin, we're aspiring to a different kind of character.

Taoism was very clear about no saints, only sages. Taoism's world view was very gentle and not so much religion as complementary to religion as we know it.  

There's an old Taoist story about the forest in China, about an old withered tree that was quite ugly.  One day a sage wandered in the woods and spoke to the tree, asking what life had been like for the tree.  

The tree replied, "I'm old and very good. No one tangled with me, no one cut me, no one uprooted me.  Why? Because I am useless to men! There is nothing that men want from me, so I am useless, but also the most free being in the forest."  

This story speaks to a different sensibility, where what is useless is better and lasts longer than the "best."  Pliancy (softness) overcomes violence (hardness).  Taoism is similar to Jesus Christ, who was probably a Taoist.  

The people who arose as sages were not action heroes.  You must have faith in what emptiness brings.  It's a more feminine or yin principle.  It's not about aggression. Remember, the sage is the wild card, the joker, and can be any card.  That's freedom.  

And, freedom is not all about chasing happiness.  It's important as a journeyer to allow more than just the upbeat in.  Listen to classical music; it cuts much deeper and can make you sad, which is why so many people don't listen to beautiful classical music like Mozart, and why they prefer pop music, with it's beat designed to keep people up and happy. 

Daniel reminded everyone that people grow the most by getting sick of what they're doing.  The group did a check in on practices.  

Daniel was asked about his tattoo and he explained, "It's a rose and it's 40 years old, so much a part of me. The rose was a symbol in Gurdjieff practice signifying secrecy."  Daniel also shared that he got the tattoo on his way to Montreal while he was passing Woodstock and got the tattoo impulsively.

Daniel commented on check-ins about anger, saying that people give it back to you.  If you're angry with someone once, they may never forget, but you can be sad with them many times and it doesn't have the same cause and effect.  People can study Zen for 20-30 years and still be on a rocky road, understanding enlightenment quite well and the cause and effect in the universe but still behave like a big jerk.

It's important to become objective to oneself, so that you're not creating bad cause and effect while you're learning about realization. It's not useful to turn out sages who are not liked by others!  

Daniel closed by encouraging as many to come to the retreat as possible, as it's a time to be together and work together.  It's good when you talk to each other in supportive ways that are not at all competitive.  People join all sorts of clubs, but this club is about supporting each other to be conscious.  This kind of alliance really works, with the energy of each of you sharing with the others making a difference.  It's rare to have 20-30 people who are so relaxed with one another, where none of you have to lie or be nasty.  It's an honest and unpretentious group, and you can all see how well it can go when you're not trying to be in control!

Regarding practice, it's normal to go in and out of practice. Remember that you don't have to be winning all the time. Put your body here and you can even be losing, but that's okay. There are more important things in life than winning and being happy all the time.  It's important to look into life and death too. 
