Lost Coin Notes
09/20/2010
 
Adding to his discussion of cause and effect, Doen said zazen is like taking a drug or drinking.  You do it enough and it happens naturally, you don’t have to figure it out.  It’s not like a proof, where this leads to this.  A second thing in koan study when, say, being something like being a writer, where you go to Paris, etc.  Except that’s not what it is zen.  Zen is just being who you are in the moment.
 
Don’t let go of sitting; because you’ll forget why you’re doing this altogether. 
 
So, the other part, we put a lot of emphasis on excellence which is why I like to connect Lost Coin to something else, like writing.  Because you choose to be anything, you can be something.
 
In the early civilization, modern mindfulness was chopping potatoes.  Now it is being aware of yourself. 
 
It’s the ability to look at one’s self, and say, this worked, this didn’t.  It’s fundamental and similar to Gurdjieff.  Why wouldn’t you look at how you do things?  Looking at the parts that don’t work is more important than looking at the parts that do work.
 
Many years ago when Doen came to Berkeley to see Aikido demonstrated, the founder demonstrated it.  People barely touched him and he threw them all over.  He moved from New York to Boston to study under an Aikido master.  When he went to study, the magic wasn’t there, it was like it was rigged.  Years later, he realized that it was magic, just not in the way he thought.   Practice is like this, it takes the passing of time to realize what is magic and what is not.
