SF Lost Coin Notes 06/27/11


If you attend class, please go to daisan.  If you do not, it means you are running away from the practice.  Wherever you feel resistance in practice is where you should go.  In martial arts, training is good for this (teaching you to confront your fears/resistances).  The same martial artist in a practice space usually is found kicking the same bag with the same foot.  Use the bad foot in practice; that’s where practice is.  Don’t make stories up about why you’re scared of the practice.  Just drop the fear.  It’s also not aesthetically pleasing (to be afraid).  This is good training for life.  This means bows, there is nothing extra that has been added to this practice; it’s been around since the 8th Century.

The Progression of Sitting

Generally there are 3 words from three languages used to describe progress in Zen practice.  Joriki is the power of concentration.  Look at your concentration and work with it in meditation.  It’s very good to see how you do things wrong.   Doen will see what is right.  With koan pracitce, bows, meditation and in life too (jobs), be realistic.  Don’t be a false cheerleader.

Samadhi means absorption; becoming the object of concentration.

Realization is finding the true self.

The first thing in sitting is meditation.  There are three main types of meditation in Zen practice.  The first is sitting with the breath, this is called zazen.  There can be one count for each breath (inhalation and exhalation) up to 10 with no interference.  The second form of meditation is shikantaza or dzogchen, “just sitting”.  Shikantaza is sitting very awake.  Let thoughts come and go, try not to accomplish, just sit.  This is a Soto Zen practice.  It is said the minute you sit in shikantaza, you are the mind and not the content; you are enlightened.  The goal is to “see” that you are it.  Zen practice is realized and actualized, not discovered or created.  Shikantaza is also sitting with things as they already are, without thoughts, saying how things are.  The third type of meditation is koan practice.  For this, half of the sitting period should be shikantaza and the other half should be work with the koan.  This practice is forgetting the self and becoming one with something.  Think of it as method acting without acting.  Marlon Brando after A Streetcar Named Desire could say, “I’m not Stanley.”

With koan study you don’t go back.  We cling to the self as though it is the most valuable gold.  Koan study is like walking on the beach and seeing waves, stars, and being one with the experience.  It is not unpleasant.

Doen prefers we sit 30 minutes in the morning and evening.  This should be done at the same times, in the same place.  You will stumble.  You should be honest with Doen.

Zen practice is an elite practice.  You have to be exceptional.  You are exceptional; now you have to prove it.  Don’t think about it, just do.  Zazen is not “meditation”; it’s more active.  Don’t relax, but be active like a great athlete.  Like pitching; the body is reduced, the self makes a full effort.  If you go to be a sailboat, be a sailboat.  This is Mu.

Some if you think you’re trying hard.  Practice comes from the hara and is a complete emotional practice engaging the lineage, Doen, and the will/spirit.  When Doen was training in martial arts he began with blocking and then one day his teacher told him to, “Go in there and hit him (the opponent).”  Practice with total commitment, you will go out like a candle burnt from both ends.

Forms of Practice

Doen is continuing Daido Roshi’s Way.  There will be 8 methods in all.

Sitting practice: Koans, zazen, shikantaza, etc.
Body practice: Dance, yoga, physical practice.  This doesn’t have to be a sport but Doen would recommend a competitive sport if you went to him.  Competitive sports make someone learn to look at the self.  The body will feel how you are.

Academic practice: Books recommended for this are The Three Pillars of Zen; Wonderland: The Zen of Alice; Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind; The Roaring Stream (highly recommended); The Empty Mirror; A Glimpse of Nothingness (the final two are monastic accounts).

Moral teachings:  Morality is a confusing term because of Judeo-Christian connotations put an emphasis on punishment.  The Tibetan form of morality is good to look at.  In Zen it is simple: do good, refrain from evil.  Do not create suffering.  If this is too simple, then you’re kidding yourself.  Doen believes people do bad things, but people aren’t evil.

“Why does Doen support Genpo Roshi?”  The answer is that Genpo succumbed to temptation.  For Doen, he’d rather be forgiving than enraged forever.  He supports Genpo in overcoming something.  His attitude about Trungpa Rinpoche is the same.   Wouldn’t you rather have someone on your side if you need support?  The ones who burn people, or kill others in war are the ones who can’t forgive.  More important to Doen is the responsibility to model behaviors.  Doen doesn’t want to be angry, high-handed, or vindictive.  Doen expects the absolute highest moral standards.  He isn’t talking about the government, but what is inside – do not do harm.  This is the bodhisattva practice.  The world is cynical.  “Save all sentient beings,” means one at a time.  There’s no precept about not taking a chemical.  But you shouldn’t take substances that cause you to behave in ways that are different and harmful.  You can jump off the Empire State Building with a pink outfit and land into someone’s crotch, as long as you don’t harm them.

Mahayana Buddhism (one of the three vehicles of which Zen is a part) means part of your practice is for others.  The sangha is a part of this.  This is how you relate to human beings.  Be more open, less fearful; it’s the same samurai armor, don’t show people your back.  Mahayana is intended to have a good effect on the world.  It’s better than being nihilistic, venal, self-serving.  Maybe this takes one million years to become a dominant meme in the world.  Don’t look, be.