Lost Coin – San Francisco Group
Meeting Notes
October 18, 2010


The Escalator

There is a TV commercial where the escalator stops and instead of walking up the steps, the people just stand there thinking they are stuck. This is a metaphor for our lives. Step 1: Stop believing that everything happening is coming from the outside. Radically refuse to be a victim. Often times when people first start seeing a therapist they complain about everything happening outside of them.

We are the people responsible for what is happening in our lives. When you understand this you become a practitioner and you progress until the final step where you feel responsibility for everything. Then you choose to do something like be a teacher. You develop a “parental mind”.


The Evolution of Just Sitting

Before he turned 30, the Buddha realized deeply that he was going to die. He saw sickness, saw reality and saw we are all in the same situation. You can choose to accept or deny the truth. So he started to meditate by just sitting. He did this for years. One day he saw deeply that the person he thought he was is only one part of him-something deeper is not affected. He realized that his actual identity is universal and unaffected by his life. He intended to teach what he learned in order to create a culture - not a religion - of understanding and wisdom.

The Buddha was a rule breaker. He left the social class, left his family and joined an alternative culture. There is no evidence that the Buddha ever intended to form a religion. Buddhism caught on in part because people in those days were entertained by scriptures, as opposed to the entertainments of today. Confucianism was literary. There was a competition with Confucianism to see who could produce the most books. So for centuries the emphasis was on passing down the teaching through scripture.

In 6th Century China a group of Buddhists decided to do what the Buddha did and just sit. They formed Chan Buddhism, which eventually came to Japan and became Zen. Zen eventually evolved into two schools: Soto & Rinzai. (There were five groups originally but 3 died off).

The Soto school developed into a patient, priestly sect. Rinzai became known as a much tougher, and was performance-oriented, teaching its practitioners to function very well in daily life.


Maezumi Roshi

Maezumi Roshi grew up in Japan and studied in both the Soto and Rinzai lineages. His father and all his brothers were Zen teachers. Early on, he wanted to be a Yakuza – a Japanese mobster. He went on to do Zen training for years, finished his training with Hakuun Yasutani, and eventually moved to Los Angeles. Bernie Glassman and Genpo Roshi found him working in a Chinese restaurant in LA (he was writing fortune cookies) and he went on to found the LA Zen Center and other centers later including Zen Mountain Monastery where Doen studied.


Roshi Bernie Glassman

Zen teaching is always flexible and evolves with the times and people. For instance, Roshi Bernie Glassman felt like he could teach his students by opening a bakery and having them work in it. He wrote a book called, “Instructions to the Cook.” Then he switched it up and held street retreats where he invited his students to spend periods of time living with and helping the homeless.

Roshi Bernie Glassman and Maezumi Roshi were quite different. Bernie has a brilliant mind – he is a great speaker that can connect ideas very well. Maezumi was very heartfelt. One time Bernie and Maezumi were speaking at an event. Bernie went first and spoke brilliantly and eloquently. Maezumi went next and proceeded to talk for 45 minutes first in English, then in Japanese, all about how much he loved Poland. At the end of the talk he said: “I love Poland because Bernie’s parents are from there.”
 

Lost Coin

Doen received transmission from teachers in both the Soto & Rinzai schools.

Doen is a modern teacher more in line with the Rinzai school. He also has a background in the 4th Way – a tradition he learned while part of the Gurdjieff Foundation. The 4th way is a separate teaching with influences from Sufism and Tibet Buddhism. Lost Coin is a merger of the spiritual basis of the inclination of Rinzai school, the temperament of the Soto school, and the 4th Way. Lost Coin also offers coaching. It is a Not for Profit, so fees are donations. Part of joining the group is intending to solve your problems on a better than average basis. Lost Coin encourages you to be in your life, to use your life as your practice and succeed. The intention is to develop spiritually alongside with your performance in life.

Lost Coin retreats are in the Zen Tradition, specifically Rinzai.  The teaching is a bit of a melting pot but is its own thing. Doen only teaches what he was trained to teach.

Like the evolution of just sitting, Lost Coin is evolving – we are forming something. The goal is to integrate spiritual practice with everyday life.

The method of practice at Lost Coin is pretty athletic – a combination of Genpo Roshi’s “jock” nature and Doen refined nature. Practice with drive and enthusiasm. 
