LOST COIN MEETING NOTES • MONDAY 10/11 • SAN FRANCISCO

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
 
• 2 weeks from 10/11 Rebecca will lead the class. Doen will be in Florida.
 
• Nov 13 Diane and Scott will host a half-day sit. Free for members. $25 for guests. Bring friends! 10am-3:30pm. Potluck. More info on lostcoinzen.com.
 
• A reminder to check in with the blog frequently; great care is put into every entry. The dialog it facilitates between members is ideal for helping build the Lost Coin community. 
 
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Doen begins with a reference to his latest blog entry. 
Many understand "being in the now" as a Zen fundamental, but, really, "understanding is the booby prize" and the very thing that keeps us from the experience of "now".  
 
Understanding is "grabbing".

To go deep into your life, you cannot use the mind organ. 
 
Understanding is not The Way.

Understanding is an important tool in life [a wrench]. 
Sitting is a new tool [practicing letting go of the wrench]. 
Sitting is a drill. 
The wrench cannot penetrate the Dharma, only the drill can.
 
The superstitions of the ancients had practitioners turning the Buddha into a god, externalizing the internal. 
Basso said "Mind Is Buddha", there is no need to look outside yourself. 
Soon, practioners all around are nodding in agreement, understanding "Mind Is Buddha" and nullifying it's truth. 
Nansen said "Mind Is Not Buddha. Wisdom [Reason] Is Not The Way", thus "opening his stinking mouth, outing the family secrets."
"Yet, very few are grateful of his kindness."
 
No amount of understanding will help you taste a cheeseburger or see a sunset.
 
"Things are not what you think they are."
 
To truly understand is to stop trying to understand.
 
Understanding is limiting.

"There's something other… There's an other light… we must stop grasping, stop understanding to let that light shine."
 
To truly experience the profundity of something like the ocean, art, music, intimacy, our own lives- we must cease to limit it with our understanding of it. 
 
All beautiful, deep things are not experienced through understanding.
 
On Teachings:
Tasho (sp?)- to sit in meditation as the zen master speaks. 
While the teacher is speaking, put down your wrench!
He teaches us by "singing us a song", experienced as a whole.
To put words to the experience of Zen is "throwing shit on the pure driven snow".
 
On Dancing:
Use your body to access the wordless universe.
 
On Art:
Oh, the tragedy of a museum audio tour! Defiling the works into mere contextualized artifacts, dissecting them to the point of ugliness. 
The truth of the piece is what it is.
 
On Practice:
The part of practice that has proven most beautiful for Doen is an experience like using a psychoactive drug which throws the user into a new place inside their mind- an experience not of understanding, but of seeing. 
Practice starts where concepts stop.
"Seeing with the whole body and mind."
 
Daido Roshi: "What does the rain mean?"
 
The most important things in life don't mean anything.

Doen concluded his song for us this week with a guided meditation through non-striving, not knowing, non-grasping, and The Way.
 