Dharma Bum

Retreat

Friday I escaped to the Five Mountain Zen Order's winter retreat. It was exactly what was needed, and It was great to connect with my Dharma family. If you're interested in exploring a meditation practice, the HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen sitting group will be meeting on Feb 12th at 5:30. Conact me for details. Here's a few photos from the weekend, we're actually a pretty casual Zen crew, but we do robe up every once and a while. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen - Feb 12th

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.

Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of - indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.
- Mary Oliver

I'm going away this weekend to sit with the Five Mountain crew. But will be back next week ready to reconvene the Sunday night sitting group, aka HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen. If you haven't been we meet at 5:30 at my place and anybody interested in exploring meditation, with a little bit of Zen thrown in for good measure, is welcome. Beginners especially welcome. Contact me for directions. I hope to see you on Sunday Feb. 12th!

Zen - On Becoming a Teacher

I don't post much about my spiritual practice on this blog. I've been thinking about that recently. Maybe it's something I will do more this year. I was directed to the following video by my teacher Paul Yuánzhì Lynch. I used to think I wanted to be a teacher, I'm currently a novice priest in a Korean Zen order, but lately I haven't been so sure. Maybe it's time. The following video is of Jakusho Kwong-roshi, the abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center where I hope to do a solo retreat this year. Kwong-roshi is a dharma heir of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and also had a close relationship with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this video, Kwong-roshi discusses his own path of becoming a Zen practitioner and eventually a teacher. It got me thinking..

A monk asked Tosu, "Is there a dragons howl in a dead tree?"

Tosu said, "I say there's a lions roar in a skull."

Psychology & Zen

For those that might be intererested, attached is a video of a talk I participated in at the Las Vegas Zen center early this year where I and some of my Dharma brothers, who happen to be Psychologist's, spoke about how Zen informs our professional lives. If you are my Mother, or my friend, and not interested in Zen or Psychology you can jump to my part at 12:48.

bell hooks Interviews Pema Chodron

When I first read her, the writing irked me. I was disturbed by what I began to call its "strategic open-endedness." I wanted to be offered solutions, ways out. Instead, she kept extending an invitation to me and everyone to move into that enchanted space beyond right or wrong—to journey to the heart of compassion. And when you have stepped out on faith, straight into the heart of the matter, loving kindness appears less like a utopian dream. It becomes concrete—a place to practice wherever you are...Read More Here

Prayer

“I fell in love with Tibet because their essential mission was to keep a continual stream of prayer. To me they kept the world from spinning out of control just by being a civilization on the roof of the world in that continuous state of prayer. The prayers are etched on wheels, they feel them with their hands like braille and turn them. It’s spinning prayer like cloth. That was my perception as a young person. I didn’t quite understand the whole thing but I felt protected. We grew up at a time when nuclear war seemed imminent with air raid drills and lying on the floor under your school desk. To counterbalance that destruction was this civilization of monks living high in the Himalayas who were continuously praying for us, for the planet and for all of nature. That made me feel safe.”

—Patti Smith

Wandering Late at Kulin Temple

The single sound of the bell
brings out the whole hall's monks.
Golden glint of the Buddha's face
almost the flash of a lamp.
The Bodhisattva Dragon Tree is silent,
the wind has died away . . .
The robes of the monks cast shadows,
as the moon begins to rise.
No need to chant the Sutras
to make the flowers giggle . . .
As I lean and listen carefully
even the stones respond.
How can the Buddha, King of Emptiness,
boast of setting the whole world free?
Here, when Spring comes,
he hasn't freed even half this pond
from thinking long on love.
- Yuan Mei
I Don't Bow to Buddhas

Guest Post - Angry Asian Buddhist

In response to Asian Pacific American Heritage month one of the writers I follow, Angry Asian Buddhist challenged other bloggers to celebrate this month by publishing an interview with or a guest blog by an Asian American Buddhist. I invited Arun to guest post here on DB:

Thank you, Chris, for inviting me to write a post on your blog.

For most of the time I was aware of it, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month has not been a big deal. It seemed everyone has a special “month” or “day” to celebrate their unique heritage, and then we go back to our lives as usual—if we were even paying attention. But this year was different.

At the beginning of this month, my father started emailing me popular articles about Asian Americans. First was Wesley Yang's New York Post article “Paper Tigers”—a piece accompanied by the provocative subtitle, “What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?” Then my father sent me a link from the San Francisco Chronicle, “The league of extraordinary stereotypes” by Jeff Yang, a discussion of the pop-culture stereotypes of Asians you’ll find if you sift through half a century of comic books. My father didn’t write much in his emails, but when I talked with him on the phone, he continued to bring up the articles to see if I’d read them. He even resent me the link to Wesley Yang’s piece—just in case I couldn’t find it—and then he just sent it to me as a PDF attachment.

To give you a picture, my father is an old retiree who considers gardening his daily exercise. American-born and raised, he comes from the generation that brought us the Asian American movement. They helped craft the notion of Asian American identity at a time when doing groundbreaking Asian American research meant going to temple and just asking people about their life history. My father would read me bedtime stories about Chinese American laundries, Japanese American internment and Korean American athletes. Any PBS documentary about the Asian American experience was a “must-watch” event. That was how things were for the first fifteen years.

After I began high school, the focus on our Asian American heritage dwindled. Academic involvement and university ambitions became the main topic of dinner conversation. Once in college, it was all about challenging classes, independent research and my honors thesis. When I went back to the rural homeland to search out our roots, my father saw it as an excessive vacation. As someone who himself never had a college degree, he saw my proper focus to be on work, study and then finding even better work. By the time I had blazed my own career path, even after I started the Angry Asian Buddhist blog, we hardly ever talked about Asian American issues. It all seemed so last century.

A week passed before I finally read the pieces and called my father back. He told me, “They write about things that I had to deal with when I was working. I never talked about this.” For the first time, we talked about the kind discrimination he faced through his (extremely successful) career. I realized that for all the Asian American identity and pride my father had raised me with, he had never felt comfortable sharing this part of his struggles with me. In fact, it took these articles written by younger Asian Americans closer to my age for my father to find the words and expression that captured the sense of alienation, frustration, ridicule and determination that pervaded his working career. These articles came together because this month is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The simple existence of this stupid holiday set in motion a chain of events that allowed my father to find the perfect words penned by someone else to tell me about his suffering.

That realization is what compelled me to write my invitation for other bloggers to include the voices of Asian American Buddhists—emphasis on “voices.” It’s important that we speak for ourselves, not just have someone else write about us. All too often our experiences are presented through the filter of White writers’ perspectives, glossing over our thoughts, our emotions and our personal struggles. When the voices of Asian Americans are continuously denied, then I start getting the sense that our voices have no worth, that our perspectives have no value and that our stories have no place. It’s the sort of connection with these Asian American writers that brought my father closer to me in a way that completely surprised me. It’s that sort of connection that, I hope, will touch other readers in the Buddhist community—and ultimately bring our community even closer together.

Thank you so much again, Chris, for giving me the opportunity to share these thoughts on your blog.

Bending with the irises..

Leonard Cohen remembers his Zen Master:

“I never really understood
what he said
but every now and then
I find myself
barking with the dog
or bending with the irises
or helping out
in other little ways.”

—Cohen, L. (2006). Book of Longing. McClelland & Stewart, p. 16. Via

Sit

Tonight we kicked off the first sit of the re-start of HB Meditation/Ocean Eyes Zen. It being Mothers Day, a few people that wanted to come couldn't make it, but I was fortunate to have Susan, Samantha and Kai in attendance. Practicing in community makes such a difference, and they made it great. I look forward to catching up next week with those that weren't able to make it tonight. Please feel free to drop in on us anytime, just email me for details. Some pics..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meditation - This Sunday!

I wanted to post a reminder that this sunday is the re-start the sitting group that meets at my house at 5pm. I've already had a few RSVP's so it looks like we'll be off to a great start.

The format will be a little talk about meditation, a sort of "how to" for the beginners, and then a 20/25 minute meditation followed by conversation.

So if you have been looking to start a meditation practice, have heard about all the benefits of meditation and don't know how to get started, or have been looking for a community to practice with, please come join us and bring a friend. We have plenty of room. Shoot me an email for directions, etc.

We also have a Facebook page for more info. I hope to see you on May 8th!  Following is a few pics from the past group..

Five Mountain Spring Retreat

Well I'm back from the Five Mountain Spring Retreat. I could have used a few more days but it's back to work. I had a great time getting robe'd up and hanging out with my teacher, and my Sangha who came from all parts of the country. It was a wonderful, and much needed retreat. Friday night I had the great privilege of participating in a conversation with 3 of my Dharma brothers who are Psychologists. Our teacher asked us to share how Zen practice has informed our work in the mental health field. There was a lot of great dialogue and great questions. I look forward to many more of these conversations in the future. The whole thing was recorded, so snippets might show up sooner or later. A couple of pics, the rest are on FB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retreat?

Or is it a sort of surrender?

Either way, I'm going away to sit on a cushion for a few days with some friends.

Regular posting will resume on Monday..

Buddhism & Narrative Therapy

I came across this interesting podcast at the Secular Buddhist of a conversation with Dr. Walter Bera, Director of the Kenwood Center, where he discusses his journey into Buddhist practice and narrative therapy. It's really worth a listen and he covers a lot of territory, I especially liked his take that the future of Buddhism in the west will be lead by women, a much needed shift from Buddhism's patriarchal history, and his dissatisfaction with current Buddhist Psychology literature. Give it a listen.

Bodhisattva Superstar

Today I finally got around to watching Bodhisattva Superstar by media artist Michael Trigilio, with the recent events, it is a timely look at Buddhist practice in the west. Trigilio takes a look at how consumerism and power operations has influenced Western Buddhism. Trigilio also confronts American popular culture's habit of addressing the subject of religion with alternating degrees of deluded piety or flippant scorn. I'm still digesting the film, but I look forward to it's screening at the Buddhist Geeks conference this summer and the conversation that will take place afterword. The trailer..

Link Bait

My post on the Selfishness of Mindfulness made the Mindfulness Daily. I've had some feedback that would lead me to believe I hit a chord. Good conversation.

Relational Buddhism Continued..Or The Selfishness of Mindfulness

  I feel the various meditative practices currently in use are limited; they tend to focus on individual change, with the anticipation that personal change will contribute to a more viable world of relationships. The Individual's meditational practices, it is said, will lead to compassion for others. To be sure, such practices can be very useful in suspending degenerative relations. However, the demands of relational life are enormous and complex. If the productive flow of meaning is to be sustained, a rich array of resources is required. Building promising futures together would seem to require skills in pro-active participation. The challenge as I see it is to generate meditative, mindful practices that include multiple parties. - Ken Gergen

Ever since mindfulness based stress reduction hit the western meditation scene, we have been hit with scores and scores of books and literature about how we can be more mindful in our respective jobs, kitchens, washrooms, and daily lives. Even science has begun to get behind this new movement. Regularly, we now hear about how mindfulness can change brain structure, or how mindfulness can bring about emotional balance. All of this is good stuff for sure, but what I like about Gergen's counter position, is that much of this new movement continues to strengthen western individualist ideas and discourse. I never hear much talk of the Sangha, or a mindful community, if you will. Gergen is right, living out on the bricks is a tough go, relationships are messy. Training someone how to successfully take a "time-out" is one thing, tooling them to connect with others, in a world where there's a heavy discourse to go it alone, is another.

There's an old story from the sutra's that captures Buddha's position on the importance of community.

 Ananda, Lord Buddha's long-time personal attendant and monk-disciple, asks Buddha:
"Lord, is it true what has been said, that good spiritual friends are fully half of the holy life?"

The Master replied, "No, Ananda, good spiritual friends are the whole of the holy life. Find refuge in the sangha community."

It has been my experience when working with others, and in my own life, that problems grow stronger in isolation. The mindfulness movement has missed this piece. Any practice that doesn't recognize the importance of community, and the danger of the individual focus, is missing "the whole of the holy life."

Relational Buddhism Continued..

In my view, Buddhist practices now represent an enormously important addition to the therapist's resources. In many respects, such practices are also allied with the present view of relational being. The Buddhist tradition recognizes that the source of human anguish is located in socially shared constructions. Further, such anguish is particularly derived from the value placed on self. In this sense, many Buddhist practices of meditation--have the effect of calling into question the naturalized meanings responsible for ones torment. Through meditation in particular, the meanings are suspended; one escapes into an open space of what Zen masters characterize as "no mind." Through careful focusing, one may break the stranglehold of accepted realities. --Ken Gergen

And for those not so inclined to spend time in meditation, there's always narrative therapy to help examine accepted realities that may collude with the problems we struggle with..