Spirituality

Had a discussion with a friend about spirituality.

I said that spirituality exists only in the mind.

It is the soup of experience and DNA

in our separate brains that creates 

our separate spiritualities.

He disagreed.

Out of nowhere I said

"Spirituality is the comfort zone

that we build as a buffer

against the pure terror

of being alive."

Is my Buddhist philosophy part of my own buffer zone?

Yes, I think so.

Raccoons are remarkable beings.

They appear to use logic.

They certainly have memories.

They seem to have no abstract thought

so have no terror of life,

though they do all they can

to avoid death.

Is our terror of the enormity of beingness

A part of our "realm of thought,"

one of the "five aggregates"

and therefore illusory?

I think so.

Probably raccoons don't worry much

about such inconsequentialities!

Probably I am just getting old and jaded,

but recently I seem to be

repeatedly observing

that people who should know better

make no effort at all to live up to 

the teachings 

of

their supposed religion.

They're there for

the bells

and whistles

they

have the terminology down pat

but they make no attempt

to follow the teachings

of whatever prophet they follow.

This would be good if

their prophets were Hitler clones,

but when they follow

Buddhism

I would think

that a little practice

of universal compassion

no matter how 'unsuccessful'

would make

 a small improvement

upon this earth.

Of course I myself

am

perfect.

The raccoon has nothing to do with it!

A friend found this Buddha statue at a fund raiser for homeless dogs.

I'm not sure whether it's made of ivory or bone.

To the animal it came from it makes no difference!

This Buddha has a faintly sardonic curl to his lip.

I wonder if the carver intended it.

There Is No Now So Just Let Go!

I haven't written in this diary for years.   So much has changed.  The beautiful Zendo in the mountains has long gone, and the two Rochis who ran it died within 48 hours of each other a few weeks ago.  One of them was my teacher.  She was the most remarkable person I know.  Finding the Zendo in the Yellow Pages,  a place that simply was serenity and peace for me was so very lucky.

In my life I have had very little 'bad luck' so far, but I also have not had 'good luck'.  Great jobs, great men, great looks, great charm were never mine, but finding that particular Zendo and the form of Soto Zen practiced there made the great jobs, men etc so gloriously unimportant!

We remnants of the Sangha go our separate ways, occasionally getting together for a 'sit' and tea and shared words.  Occasionally I take a two hundred mile round trip to practice with another group, but I feel it's a little unjustifiable!

There is a certain luxury in sitting with a group of like minded people.  One feels strengthened for some reason, and the social interaction is something we sentient beings seem to need.  But alone, finding small silences in the day is a continual satisfaction.

The yin yang symbol should not be viewed as static.  It symbolizes the continuous flow and change that creates the whole that mystifies us.  We are all so gifted at balancing through change!  We do it constantly without a thought!

Does Time Pass?

Does time pass? Or is time just another deluded illusion of our lost little minds?
Be that as it may, I thought I'd better update this blog at least once in 2011.

Our beautiful Zendo in the mountains is no more. The lovely serene space with its elegant tans and zafus (sitting accomodations) has been torn out and recycled. The room will be a rec room or something similar I suspect.

Unpleasantness among the exalted resulted in our Roshis turning elsewhere. I assume the philosophy that they so warmly shared still accompanies them.

I would not mourn the passing of the Zendo if I were the Buddhist I would like to be. After all, attachment is an undesirable quality. If I stay in the ever-gone moment I will remember with affection, nothing more.

The Teachings of Harry Dean Stanton

I must have seen Harry Dean Stanton in hundreds of TV Westerns like Rawhide and Gunsmoke, but I didn't notice him until I saw Paris Texas. Yeah. Where he walks out of the desert. Next time I noticed him was in Repo Man which is possibly my favorite movie. Yesterday I looked at some of the 'add-ons' to the director's cut DVD of Repo Man and found an interview with Harry Dean Stanton done I think in 2002. To my amazement I discovered that he is a deep and austere Buddhist. How strange. No smooth-faced serenity in his corroded features! I bet Terry Gross and Charlie Rose etc run at the sound of his name, but if they had the courage to withstand his "you just don't get it, do you?"s it would be great stuff to watch and listen to.

Practice and Perfection

I'm back at T'ai Chi again. Several years ago I tried very hard to learn, but it seemed that my body does not remember the moves, and no matter how hard I tried I simply could not perform a sequence of moves without following someone else. This does not work, because the lovely balance and smoothly flowing motions are ruined when one's head is turned frantically in the wrong direction to try and follow someone else's moves. I think it may have to do with my two dimensional vision and my complete lack of any sense of direction. I am not sure that practice can overcome this physical limitation that is probably nested in my DNA. There are things that come easy and things that come only from effort, and it seems to me that there are things that just wont come no matter what.

Sometimes I think that Buddhism appeals to the lazy. No striving allowed! If one sits quietly and empties the mind, enlightenment will come. I suppose that the lesson here is that if I practice T'ai Chi with serenity and focus, 'getting good' simply does not matter. I am a stork, I will spread my wings.