ORDINARY MIND ZEN-AUSTIN

Fall Class with Flint Sparks: Waking up and growing up

2008-07-03T21:45:00.003-05:00

Here are further details and the schedule for Flint's upcoming class at Ordinary Mind.

Waking Up and Growing Up:
Maturing in Life and in Practice

A six-month series in studying the Self
with Flint Sparks

The great twentieth-century Zen master Uchiyama Roshi was once asked his definition of a Bodhisattva. After a brief pause, he replied in his very limited English, “I think, maybe a grown-up.” What is this “grown-up” that Uchiyama is referring to and how is this an expression of the Bodhisattva ideal in Buddhist practice?

In Norman Fischer’s book, Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up, he writes, “I have always been struck by the language the sutras use to describe bodhisattvic altruistic activity: the bodhisattva matures beings, the sutras say. The work of the bodhisattva is, in other words, to become mature and in doing so to work for the maturity of others.” (p. 20)

In this class we will investigate the interplay among all the streams of human development - neurological, emotional, relational, spiritual. These strands of development form our personalities and inform our relationships. They are the source of all of our joys as well as our sorrows. When Dogen famously wrote, “To study the Buddha Way is the study the Self,” I believe he was suggesting that we explore this map of human growth that opens most fully as human awakening. This is the path of the Bodhisattva which is nothing but the path of the human being.

The class will meet monthly over a six-month period. The program will follow the Ordinary Mind principle of experiential work, rather than following a classroom or academic model. We will incorporate into each meeting some time for sitting, some writing, small experiments or exercises, some inquiry work, and discussion. I believe that in this series, I will have a chance, for the first time, to draw on all I have learned over the years as a therapist and as a Zen teacher. I hope you will join me.

We will generally meet the second Thursday of the month of each month except for November and January from 6:30 – 8:30 PM. Here are the class dates:

September 11, 2008
October 9, 2008
October 30, 2008
December 11, 2008
January 15, 2009
February 12, 2009
The fee for the entire class is $150. Application forms may be downloaded here:

http://www.ordinarymindaustin.org/waking.doc
http://www.ordinarymindaustin.org/waking.pdf

Questions? Call 512.689.5301 or email pegsyverson@gmail.com or flint@flintsparks.com

Mail or bring this form:
Ordinary Mind Zen-Austin
913 East 38th St.
Austin, TX 78705

Precepts Program News

2008-07-03T13:39:00.002-05:00

Because of the demand for the Precepts Program, I've expanded it into two sections. The first section will meet on the first Thursday of the month and the second section will meet on the third Thursday of the month (with a couple of exceptions, noted below). If you have a strong preference for one section over the other, please let me know. I'll form up the sections and let you know when you are scheduled. Here are the dates for each section:

Ordinary Mind Precepts Program Schedule

SECTION 1
First Thursday of the Month

2008
September 4
October 2
November 6
December 4

2009
January 8 (Note: second Thursday because of New Year's)
February 5
March 5
April 2
May 7
June 4
July 2
August 6

SECTION 2
Third Thursday of the Month

2008
September 18
October 16
November 13 (because of Thanksgiving)
Dec. 15 (Monday instead of Thursday)

2009
January 22
February 19
March 19
April 16
May 21
June 18
July 16
August 20

Please be assured that none of these dates conflicts with Flint's class, "Waking up and growing up." I'll be sending out information about the schedule and registration forms for that class shortly.

Entry deck

2008-06-10T20:38:00.001-05:00

Entry deck
Originally uploaded by Peg Syverson.

The new entry deck is shaping up on the side of the house. The work is being done by Robert McKay of Mac Design-Build. The roof is being done by Clay Fuller of Straight Solutions. We are so fortunate to have such expert help! This is the first phase of the landscape project for Ordinary Mind. We hope to create a serene and refreshing urban sanctuary here.

2008-06-10T12:07:00.001-05:00

Dear Sangha-

If you've registered for the Precepts Program, here are the scheduled dates for the meetings. They will be on the first Thursday of the month:

2008
September 4
October 2
November 6
December 4

2009
January 8 (Note: second Thursday because of New Year's)
February 5
March 5
April 2
May 7
June 4
July 2
August 6

If you have not yet signed up for the Precepts Program, there is still space available. (More information about the Precepts Program) The registration form can be found here:

PDF format: www.ordinarymindaustin.org/precepts.pdf

Word format: www.ordinarymindaustin.org/precepts.doc

"Accepting This"

2008-05-27T13:49:00.001-05:00

I have copied a poem here which I read today at the noon Inquiry Group. I felt it captured an essential element of what these groups, and our sangha, are about. Apparently others were similarly captured. It certainly emphasizes the relational aspect of non-dual practice. This seems like and an oxymoron or at least a paradox - "relational aspects of non-dual practice." Enter the poetry and allow it to speak.

Flint

"Accepting This" by Nark Nepo

Yes, it is true. I confess,

I have thought great thoughts,

and sung great songs - all of it

rehearsal for the majesty

of being held.

The dream is awakened

when thinking I love you

and life begins

when saying I love you

and joy moves like blood

when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn

from trying to outrun suffering

to accepting love wherever

I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans

and things to strive for,

I have discovered everything

I could need or ask for

is right here-

in flawed abundance.

We cannot eliminate hunger,

but we can feed each other.

We cannot eliminate loneliness,

but we can hold each other.

We cannot eliminate pain,

but we can live a life

of compassion.

Ultimately,

we are small living things

awakened in the stream,

not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,

we are asked to experience

meaning in the life that moves

through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do

and nowhere to go.

Accepting this,

we can do everything

and go anywhere.

Sunday morning schedule changes

2008-05-21T08:06:00.002-05:00

This week we expanded our Sunday morning program, adding an additional zazen period and optional mindful work period. The optional work period is from 7:30 to 7:55. The additional zazen period provides more time for individual practice discussion with Peg, and it means that we finish at approximately 10:40. Afterwards, many folks enjoy going for tea and breakfast together.

As always, you are welcome to come for any zazen period. If you arrive after the start of zazen at 7:30, please use the back entrance and wait in the study for the start of walking meditation before joining the group. The first walking meditation will usually be outdoors, weather permitting. If you arrive between the first and second sitting period, you can join up with the walking meditation in the back.

Day 7: Completion and Return Home

2008-05-04T09:29:00.008-05:00

The photo above represents how the yurt looked before the participants arrived. This particular image was recorded by Rikki Cooke, one of our hosts and a long-time National Geographic photographer and talented teacher (see www.thealohabear.com for more of his work). The elegant arrangement you see here shifted and changed, was rearranged and reordered all through the week to match the needs of the group and each event - meditation, small group work, mindful movement, and even hula. Light slowly filled the room each morning and then faded each evening. People came and went. Many of us were, in alternating waves, inspired and discouraged, joyful and sad, angry and fearful - just like the rest of life. But the room was always ready and held it all, along with the trees, birds, and wind. The earth supported everything below us and the sky, with its many moods, nevertheless remained open above us. In the end, we reflected on our week together and then dismantled the room, put everything away, leaving a clean, empty space ready for the next group. Unlike the typical Western ethos that suggests we "leave our mark" on the world, the Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi suggested that "we leave no trace." The "eight worldly winds" I briefly described in the Day 4 entry point to the storms stirred by clinging to the personal: gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and obscurity. There is an alternative, however. We can leave (and live each day) with gratitude and respect, which is certainly how I feel about the Hui and also about everyone who participates here. In many ways it is a long and challenging trip for most people who travel to Molokai. I have a profound appreciation for those who choose to do so -who offer themselves wholeheartedly to the process, who discover the benevolent welcome of Mother Molokai, who are reminded of their shadows and contractions of conditioning they thought they had left behind on the mainland, and who are willing to "take the backward step and turn their light inward," as Dogen poetically wrote in his old Zen meditation instruction. To have the willingness to meet it all with the support of the setting and each other is the beginning of not just personal healing, but of peace. Without this willingness, we feed the seeds of discord, hatred, division, and ongoing suffering for all. But, with a simple turn, we save not only ourselves, but the whole world. Toward this end, I offer the dedication we chanted all week together:

By the power and truth of this practice, may all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow.

May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless.

And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion,

And believing in the equality of all that lives.

Mahalo ("Thank you" in Hawaiian)

Day 6: Releasing and Healing

2008-05-02T12:07:00.003-05:00

These posts are such small snapshots of each day, rich with experience, both delightful and challenging. As someone once said, "transformation is not for the feint of heart." Hui Ho'Olana, the name of the retreat center, means "where inspiration rises up form the heart." Inspiration rises rather easily here in this beautiful and welcoming environment, but so does everything else along with it. When we open, everything comes, not just the joy. Today we ceremonially honored what wanted to be released - especially anguish and grief - but first it had to be witnessed. This understanding is most beautifully offered in another Mary Oliver poem, "Heavy" (below). It rained gently in the morning, as if the sky was weeping softly. We moved the large rock from the altar to the deck outside the yurt. We began to ring the bell as might happen in a temple in Asia whenever a death has occurred. As we counted each striking of the bell with the beaded mala - 108 peals of the bell - participants came forward and poured water over the rock to honor their loss or grief as one might do at an ashes site in Japan. The silence was filled with only the bell, the wind, the birds, and the tender hearts of the participants. Later in the day, after dinner, laughter and music could be heard echoing down the hill. How does this happen?

Heavy

Mary Oliver

That time I thought I would not

go any closer to grief

without dying

I went closer, and I do not die.

Surely God had his hand in this,

as well as friends.

Still, I was bent, and my laughter,

as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.

Then said my friend Daniel

(brave even among lions),

"It's not the weight you carry but how you carry it -

book, bricks, grief -

it's all in the way you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not, put it down."

So I went practicing.

Have you noticed?

Have you heard the laughter

that comes, now and again,

out of my startled mouth?

How I linger to admire, admire, admire

the things of this world that are kind,

and maybe also troubled -

roses in the wind,

the sea geese on the steep waves,

a love to which there is no reply?

Day 5: Returning to the Circle

2008-04-30T22:54:00.004-05:00

I've been coming to Molokai for almost ten years and have never experienced "vog" - the equivalent of smog, only produced by the massive eruption of Kilauea happening currently on the Big Island of Hawaii. The haze comes and goes depending on the strength of the eruption and the direction of the winds. It was reported that the pollution level on the worst days has been similar to LA smog on a regular day, only we have sulphur dioxide, ash, and smoke in the mix rather than the primarily carbon dioxide of auto pollution. When the trade winds return from the north, the air clears and we can see far off into the distant horizon. The island of Lanai suddenly appears as if by magic and our breathing is relaxed and easy once again. This dramatic environmental shift is not too different from the internal shifts we discover in practice. One moment we are caught in the haze of the "self-centered dream" and feel real suffering. We experience it in the body and in the breath. As our thoughts change and our perspective shifts, the mind begins to clear and what was previously occluded by "holding to self-centered thoughts" is suddenly revealed as delusion. The entire island of Lanai was not destroyed, we just couldn't see it because the vog made it impossible to see from our personal viewpoint. Neither is our True Nature destroyed when we are caught in the self-centered dream. However, we do loose sight of who we truly are as our horizons contract back to self-clinging, self-cherishing, and the relentless social "I". This doesn't just happen in the midst of work stress and family difficulties, this happens during beautiful and grace-filled retreats as our conditioning is triggered and within the container of practice we have the opportunity to look closely at these patterns which we usually play out as ordinary and automatic. We chant, "each moment, life as it is, the only teacher." This is only true if we are willing to look deeply and if we are willing to help each other look closely in the reflective benevolence of loving relationships. In this way our horizons expand. We become a larger container for experience, more able to "bow to life as it is." The air clears and the breath is easy again.

Caught in the self-centered dream, only suffering.

Holding to self-centered thoughts, exactly the dream.

Each moment, life as it is, the only teacher.

Being just this moment, compassions way.

Day 4: Loosening the "I"

2008-04-30T18:49:00.004-05:00

We began today with a dharma talk by Richy using Tsoknyi Rinpoche's Four Types of "I". This is a Tibetan teaching on the construction of a solid sense of "I" where none exists. He actually starts with what he calls the "Mere I." This is the actuality of our functional sense of self. It is what Mu Soeng calls "a provisional floating center." This is, of course, neither solid nor enduring, but fully functional and integrated. With just a tiny bit of grasping however, we then move to "Ego Fixation." It is here that the sense of self starts to become frozen. There is no more flow or sense of the dance of phenomena. There is always an "I" as the reference point in life. This, of course, results in subject/object fixation - we want happiness and must maintain the "I" in that pursuit. This tends to lead to the next level of "Self-cherishing." We are always putting ourselves first, consuming in the service of "I", increasing the amount of investment in preserving the self. Life becomes more complex. Next comes the "Social I." This is the coarsest sense of "me" generated by social role, work, and identity. This is very well developed and highly valued in the West. The "Eight Worldly Winds" appear at this level because they are what buffet the ego about. I will mention them here although there is much more to them and they deserve a more complete teaching than I can offer in a brief blog post. They are: gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and obscurity. These are the guiding forces that push around the Social I. They are not hard to understand are they?

What happens when we release back through these four senses of "I" to the Mere I? Here is a tiny taste - more of a portal into the release to the Mere I - but a beautiful example nonetheless. We did practices today to help us experiment with releasing into Mere I. Below is an report from one of our sangha members in Austin following a recent intensive. I read it to the participants here on Molokai as an example of the fruit of these kinds of teachings. This is what I really love, assisting students so that the teachings emerge from them and then pointing out that they have arrived through them, not me. This is thrilling. Take a look:

"Since the Intensive, I have been experiencing everything through the lens that "nothing is what I call it." It has impacted everything, whether I am sitting or speaking or watching the world around me. I've gone back and listened to talks and read poetry that I thought I "got" and in doing so realized this dimension that was there all along - something I've spoken to other people about but now actually realized instead of interpreting it in words which I heretofore thought defined life. For example, "all things have Buddha nature" turns into "all things share a reality and a life before and after any reference we can make to it." Then, before I name the moon as beautiful, it is already true - active and fully responded to in me and all others in a communication that far exceeds any verbal expression. Then, Dogen says we are "actualized by the myriad things;" speech and thought are just name tags that are just one infinitessimal acknowledgement of the whole and is already flowing through us as vibrating expressions of this ever expansive truth. It has been breathtaking and makes the notion of separateness an organic impossiblity."

What can you actually say about the picture of the flower above (thanks to Cassie Weyendt)? Do those six letters - "flower" - contain the explosion you see? What about the light - not to mention the smell? What about you, or what you call you? Is it really so solid or so necessary? These are good questions. Just to be mindful helps us begin to penetrate the ways we cling to the self, cherish the self, and maintain a social I. Here is the final poem of the day by Mary Oliver.

Mindful : Mary Oliver

Every day

I see or hear

something

that more or less

kills me

with delight,

that leaves me

like a needle

in the haystack

of light.

It is what I was born for -

to look, to listen,

to loose myself

inside this soft world -

to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,

and acclamation.

Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant -

but the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.

Oh, good scholar,

I say to myself,

how can I help

but grow wise

with such teachings

as these -

the untrimmable light

of the world,

the ocean's shine,

the prayers that are made

out of grass?

Day 3: Entering the Body

2008-04-29T02:14:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Richie began a series of Feldenkrais exercises to assist people in opening very gently to sitting meditation. This morning, Amrita led us in mindful movement as a way to teach the fundamentals of mindfulness itself - through the body. She had previously taught these sequences with Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts in his well known mindfulness based stress reduction program. Later, I offered a dharma talk focusing on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths as an embodied practice. So we are moving from body practices, to teachings, and back to the body, weaving a practice series we hope will assist in deepening each participant to the realization that it is only through having a body and entering wholehearted embodiment with others that we awaken fully to life as it is.

The day actually started quite powerfully, well before these man-made sessions. Most of the group went to watch the sunrise at the Kalaupapa overlook, an old stone wall at the top of a three-thousand foot cliff high above the leper colony of Molokai where Father Damien did his work. Kalaupapa is an entire story in itself of course, full of tragedy and great triumph, but this morning we stood in awed silence for more than an hour as the sun made its way up and out of the ocean offering us an indescribable display of light and texture. It was still mostly dark - at least very gray - when we arrived. A deer bounded across the road as we drove to the overlook parking lot. The moon still lit the sky. The cool morning wind whipped the ironwood trees vigorously and the waves broke forcefully against the shore far below. Later, in the morning check-in, one of our participants, JoLynn, offered this startling poem. It captures the teaching of the entire day better than I could describe.

What I Learned Before Breakfast

The birds do not keep the rule of silence

except when you least expect it.

Even the grays - all of them - are beautiful.

You cannot tell the difference

between the sound of the wind

and the sound of the water, nor

the sound they make together.

There is a line where the

sea stops and the sky beings,

isn't there?

The moon keeps watch till the

sun takes over and when it

does, it aims right for you.

The clouds shape shift before

your eyes offering feathers,

a purple Agapanthus, frosty

meringue, a fiery salmon dragon

sent as an emissary.

Apparently this happens frequently.

Ordinary Mind Precepts Program 2008-09

2008-04-28T17:57:00.004-05:00

Hui Neng, the sixth Zen ancestor, said “It is precisely Buddhist conduct that is the Buddha.” This means, as Peter Hershock notes, that the real Buddhist is seen “in terms of conduct—that is, his or her lived relations with others—and not according to any individually possessed marks or states of consciousness.”

Awareness naturally awakens our aspiration to benefit all beings. The relational quality of lived experience is the complete function of “being Buddha.” It lies in our liberating, intimate encounter and interaction with all beings. For this reason, Buddhism rests on a deeply ethical foundation. The Buddha taught the principles of ethical living throughout his forty-five years of teaching, to every kind of audience from farmers to disciples to kings. Although this ethical foundation parallels the ethical teachings of every major world religion in some ways, Buddhism is unique in the way the precepts are presented. Rather than reflecting moral judgments or declarations of “what is good” and “what is bad or evil,” the Buddha taught an active process of inquiry into that which is wholesome and that which is unwholesome. The definition of what is wholesome is simply that which leads towards liberation and well-being for oneself and others. Rather than setting out rules or commandments, the Buddha urged his followers to investigate for themselves their own words, thoughts, and actions to discover their qualities and consequences. This very process is taking the Buddhist path. He taught a set of precepts to help focus this ongoing inquiry.

Ordinary Mind will offer a one-year program of once-a-month meetings to explore the Buddhist precepts from a contemporary practice perspective. This program will follow the Ordinary Mind principle of experiential work, rather than following a classroom or academic model. We will incorporate into each meeting some time for sitting, some writing, small experiments or exercises, some inquiry work, and discussion. We will also draw on contemporary teachings about attachment and attunement in interpersonal neurobiology, internal family systems, spiral dynamics, and Hakomi. The real heart of this course, however, is utterly simple: it is in the everyday work, lives, and relationships of the participants, the ground of true practice.

At the end of the year, we will offer a small, informal ceremony for those who would like to commit themselves to the path of the precepts in their own lives. This step is entirely voluntary; participants will decide if it is appropriate for them. The ceremony will be a public acknowledgment of a personal commitment and dedication to the practice path as it unfolds right here and right now, in this very life.

You do not need to be experienced in Zen practice to begin the Ordinary Mind precepts program; you may just be curious about the subject. We will ask you to maintain a daily sitting practice (even a very short period of sitting each day) and commit to attending the monthly meetings to the extent that you are able to throughout the course of the program. We will use as our text for the program Diane Rizzetto’s book Waking Up to What You Do: A Zen Practice for Meeting Every Situation With Intelligence and Compassion. (Amazon link) We will also be using the Learning Record, a way of documenting for your own use your experiences as the program unfolds. This is a new way of supporting spiritual practice and we hope you will provide feedback to help refine it.

The meetings will be scheduled for the third Thursday of each month, beginning in September 2008 and ending in August 2009, from 7:00 to 9:00 in the evening. The cost will be $300 if paid in advance, or $30 per month if paid over the course of the year. To register for this program, please complete the application form linked here in both Word and PDF formats. If you have any questions about the program, please let me know.

All my warmest wishes,

Peg

Day 2: Forming the Circle

2008-04-27T19:55:00.004-05:00

We Clasp the Hands

Wendell Berry

We clasp the hands of those that go before us,

And the hands of those who come after us.

We enter the little circle of each other's arms

And the larger circle of lovers,

Whose hands are joined in a dance,

And the larger circle of all creatures,

Passing in and out of life,

Who move also in a dance,

To a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it

Except in fragments.

This morning we stood together on the lawn in front of the lodge, our toes in the grass, our fingers entwined, joined in a circle in which we honored our personal ancestors as well as the family of Hawaiian people who helped make this retreat center sacred ground. Bronwyn Cooke, the director of the center blew the conch shell in the four directions and intoned a beautiful and powerful Hawaiian chant that calls on us to be present and listen deeply. Part of the translation is an aspiration: "may we be granted the possibility of hearing the wisdom of the song." Following the circle we finally descended the hill to the yurt and began our first formal session. Richie told a beautiful story drawn from Africa about a tribe in which each newborn is greeted with a song given to their parents even before their conception; a song which encourages them to the day of their actual birth, follows them throughout the ups and downs of their lives, and finally sends them on at the time of their death. Following the story each participant offered their aspiration and intention for the week and placed a shell or rock on the altar as a symbolic offering of themselves to the process and to the practices. These were fragments - broken bits of shell mostly - worn down or incomplete, yet perfectly themselves, like each one of us.

The songs continued through the afternoon as we left the retreat center to hear the local "kapuna," the elders who pass on the culture of Hawaii through their music and hula. It was a joyful and powerful event to see the old women, the young children, the locals and the transplanted residents, all singing, dancing, and playing the music that hold the community together. In so many ways we today we tasted the music "so subtle and vast that no one hears it except in fragments." Tonight after dinner we sat together in darkness as the electrical power on the island failed. After such a full day, it was surprisingly easy to find peace and harmony with what life was offering us. Tomorrow we will continue to move deeper into that vast and subtle music of our lives, played through our bodies.

2008-04-27T12:03:00.004-05:00

Day 1: Travel to Honolulu and on to Molokai

As I type these words the bright screens above us on the new Boeing 767 indicate that we have traveled over three thousand mile since our departure from Dallas earlier this morning. We are flying at more than 34,000 feet through the vast sky over the Pacific, hurtling along at nearly 600 miles and hour. It is an unfathomable -54F outside the plane and we are about ninety minutes from landing in Honolulu where it is currently partly cloudy, with a light breeze, and 81F on the ground. This is how we automatically and habitually orient ourselves, isn't it - measurements, numbers, comparisons, evaluations, anticipations, and memories? Sitting in this relatively comfortable seat, drinking endless bottles of water, and feeling rested from a brief nap, it is easy to forget that all of this is a strange thing to do to a body. Spending the equivalent of an entire workday (nearly 8 hours) in a pressurized cabin in order to travel to a dormant volcano (now called an island) rising from the ocean floor in the middle of the ocean is stressful challenge. Not to mention that the day will somehow be 29 hours long and even though it is bright and sunny as we travel on to Molokai, my body will know that it will be midnight, not 7:00 PM as shown on the face of my iPhone. The phone simply changes without any apparent resistance or stress. My body, however, takes time, and that is what we will begin doing tomorrow - taking time to sit in silence and stillness and the fullness of the moment. I hope you will take some time to sit, even for only a few minutes, and enjoy your life just as it is.

2008-04-27T11:16:00.004-05:00

Quieting the Mind:

Connecting to Body, Earth, and Spirit

Flint Sparks and Richie Heckler

April 26 - May 2, 2008

"This retreat is a gentle invitation to awaken from the trance of everyday life and to be refreshed by the richness and aliveness that is available by connecting body and spirit with the healing earth of "Mother Molokai." During our week together we will have opportunities for meditation, mindful movement, and small group experiments drawn from the Hakomi Method. We will teach restorative practices which connect us deeply to our bodies, the spacious mind beyond hope and fear, to the earth, and to the wisdom of our ancestral lineages. We will work with all of these energy streams in an organic, restful, and playful manner with the intention of revealing our basic goodness."

The above was the original invitation to this week's retreat. Today and tomorrow (Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26), fifteen participants are traveling to Hawaii to find out what actually happens when we gather in response to this description that Richie and I manufactured nearly a year ago. No one actually knows the deepest intentions, privately held expectation, and hidden fears of any of the other group members. Sunday morning we will begin to give voice to all of this for the first time in the group, sitting together in a circle in the yurt nestled among tropical foliage, cooled by the island breezes, and serenaded by the exuberant birds.

It is quite a pilgrimage to travel to the tiny island of Molokai, only 52 miles from the bustling traffic of Honolulu and crowded beaches of Waikiki. On a clear day you can actually see the majestic outlines of Diamond Head from the east end of Molokai. However, this relatively short distance belies the enormous distance you travel in the 17-minute flight between airports. When you land on Molokai and step off the plane you enter what the locals call "the most Hawaiian island", and what Riki Cooke (one of our hosts at the Hui) calls "an island in time." My experience, year after year, is that upon arrival I feel a relief, an opening, a simple joy, and a deepening that is totally visceral. The shift is physical. Certainly I have memories and appreciations from past visits. I have ideas about the week and hopes for its "success." But Mother Molokai greets you as an undeniable and immensely intimate embodied presence. This is why I return year after year and this is why I continue to invite others to join me here. You are also invited to join us, in a way, through these daily accounts. I will do my best to offer you brief, ongoing accounts of our daily practices and experiences as they unfold. I hope you enjoy the reports and maybe find yourself encouraged to practice along with us as we open to the ever-deepening awareness of the body and the natural quieting of the mind.

Aloha - Flint

Heart-mind

2008-03-24T19:06:00.001-05:00

Heart-mind
Originally uploaded by Peg Syverson.

Process Notes

Do I want to say something about these anemones?
Or do I drink this color, light, and shadow straight up,
the main question having changed from
how can I make a living
to how can I live this life?
And then...
silence
in the teeth of the great mystery
where words can’t follow
the vast wild night
safely held at bay by
the comforts of this place,
my settled space and this, too
is home to it, the life within
and without no different, really,
the death that enters here or there
completely unconcerned with
where you are or what
you’ve left undone.
It is only this, there is nothing more
to yearn for
nothing to arrive at or discover
because no matter how you have tried to imagine it—
the wars, catastrophes, and epidemics,
the dread and worry, rage and grief
and panic and shame—
there is nothing quite as dazzling as
this: a pitcher filled with little cups of liquid
light in violet, scarlet, white and green,
or your unhindered eyes and mine meeting
and falling
through timeless space,
the true wonder is simply a life like a pitcher
that can hold it all and pour it
into the world
like this.

Jill Bolte Taylor, "My Stroke of Insight"

2008-03-13T18:04:00.003-05:00

There is a wonderful talk by Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroscientist, from the TED 2008 conference. From the TED website: "Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another."

Margaret Harrison

2008-02-25T13:46:00.003-06:00

As many of you know, the sangha lost a dear friend and devoted sangha member, Margaret Harrison, last Thursday. The Ordinary Mind memorial for Margaret is scheduled for 6:00 PM Sunday, March 9, following the one-day sitting, at Ordinary Mind. Please do make time in your schedule for this remembrance of Margaret's life. For those who have not had the pleasure of knowing Margaret, the short video below, provided by Katherine Jones, gives you a good sense of her luminous personality. In it she describes her experience receiving a new heart.

An ongoing dialogue on enlightenment

2008-02-13T11:02:00.004-06:00

Peg:
Enlightenment is precisely the traffic on Mopac. No, not like the traffic on Mopac. It is none other than this. The skillful flowing together with others in complete, moment to moment awareness is your best hope for preventing suffering for yourself and others. On the freeway, your thoughts, plans, dreams and goals, your troubled childhood or big promotion do not matter one bit. The only thing that matters is the appropriate response dynamically unfolding in harmony with the free flow of movement, form, sensation, perception, emotion-thoughts, and consciousness. It is an ongoing jazz ensemble improvisation. The one who cut you off—is he right or wrong? Is she good or bad? Are you furious or amused? None of that matters. The only thing that matters is your skillful responding in slowing safely and avoiding collisions with other drivers. And your awareness is always especially necessary in meeting those who are hindered by “non-awareness.” Distractions are dangerous! Whether you are a CEO or student, tall, short, young, tired, driving a sports car or a battered pickup truck, suffering from cancer or a broken heart, alone or with three bickering kids in the back, on your way to work, to meet a lover, to pick up a few groceries—all irrelevant. In rain or ice, dark or blinding sun, the issues are the same. Blink and the laughing blonde girl next to you suffers a broken neck, reach for something under the seat and spend the rest of your days in a wheelchair: your absolute attention is required in every moment. And on a good day, the whole performance unfolds like a miraculous symphony of movement, color, sound, light, ease, and generosity. You may even be surprised by the dazzling wonder of wildflowers. But whether you are zipping along at 70 mph, peering into a foggy night, or stuck in bumper-to-bumber rush hour traffic, enlightenment is just this.

The rest of life is also this.

Flint responds:
Our habits of mind are like a magic act. When we go to see a magician we know we are being tricked, but the illusions can be so compelling and convincing we become enthralled by what we think we are seeing. It appears that the woman is actually being sawed in half, right in front of our eyes. Inexplicably, the huge 4-wheel drive pickup disappears into thin air. The plump rabbit is actually being pulled out of an empty hat and a flock of white pigeons explodes out of a silk scarf which was, only moments before, tucked neatly into a vest pocket. It is as if we can’t see these events in any other way. This is what makes them so fascinating. The problem in our everyday life is that these illusions become delusion. The tricks are so often mistaken for truth that we operate on these illusory truths as if they were real. We end up betting our lives on illusion and ignoring the truth which could, as they say, actually set us free. Sitting practice and self-study is like going backstage and having the magician show us how the illusion was created.

Every illusion can be seen through and once seen through, we are no longer fooled. The slight-of-hand is obvious and the deception illuminated. It has all been brought into the light of awareness – enlightened.

Upcoming events

2008-02-11T14:09:00.001-06:00

Dear Sangha-

I'm delighted to let you know that the dates for the April Ordinary Mind practice intensive with Flint and Peg have been set. It will begin Friday evening April 4 and run through Sunday afternoon April 6. The cost is $75 if paid before March 10, $100 after that date. Please plan to follow the complete schedule.

The application forms for the practice intensive are now available. Please review the application and fill it out completely, even if you have filled out a similar application in the past, then return it to me. I have attached a copy to this email, but the application can also be found at:

http://www.ordinarymindaustin.org/Intensive-4-08.pdf

Because we have very limited accommodations, for this intensive we do not expect local sangha members to stay here overnight. We can provide a few spaces for folks from out of town. If you are able to accommodate an out-of-town guest, please let me know.

Also, if you have any questions about the application form or about the intensive, please let me know.

When we allow ourselves simply to have this time and space, in mindfulness and curiosity, practice intensives can be enormously clarifying for our practice and our sangha. I am looking forward to this opportunity to deepen our practice together!

There will be an all-day sitting before the intensive on March 9 to give you an opportunity to practice extending your zazen with a few additional sitting periods. The all-day sittings are held as an extension of the regular Sunday morning program.

Ordinary Mind and social activism

2008-02-04T10:08:00.000-06:00

Dear Sangha-
Sunday morning we discussed this topic, and for those who were not with us, I would like to clarify the issue of social, political, and environmental activism with respect to the Ordinary Mind sangha. I am certainly in favor of each member of the sangha connecting with, supporting, and even challenging their communities in the ways that feel most appropriate. Such activity may take many different forms and may reflect very different methods and perspectives. All perspectives are welcome here.

Rebecca McIlwain, a member of the sangha, is offering a workshop intended to foster awareness and contemplation around participants' political engagement. We are providing the space and time for this workshop without officially sponsoring it, as we have done with other offerings that are congruent with the Ordinary Mind way. I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for those folks who would like to bring issues of political engagement into their meditation practice to help clarify their understanding.

We are happy to provide space and time for other groups with a contemplative focus as appropriate, without directly endorsing or sponsoring those groups. Scheduling depends on time and availability of the space. It is typical in cases such as this for a reasonable contribution to be made to Ordinary Mind in support of the sangha.

However, I want to make it clear that the role of Ordinary Mind is support and encouragement and practices for awakening in our lives right now, right here. Our methods involve zazen, inquiry groups, practice discussion, classes, and intensives. There will be no social, political, or environmental activism program officially offered by Ordinary Mind. This is an important point to understand. Certainly we are extremely sensitive to social, political, and environmental needs and the potential for healing and constructive action. And as I mentioned above, we support and encourage people to engage these issues wholeheartedly. There are many, many venues locally, nationally, and globally for such engagement. However, I feel very strongly that Ordinary Mind should not be directing such activity. It is not in our mission. What we can do, is to work with people engaged in these kinds of activities to help them find an appropriate expression and balance, avoiding burnout, anger, and polarizing, finding their own clearest and most beneficial manifestation of the dharma. We are entirely open with respect to the particular social, political, or environmental position a person may hold; we are most interested in their aspiration for a liberated life of openness, compassion, and wisdom.

I think the recently-coined term "engaged Buddhism" is a redundancy: there is no such thing as "disengaged Buddhism." We are in intimate relationships with each other, with our work, with our world, and we cannot escape engagement and activity with all of its karmic consequences. There is no privileged place to stand, outside of the whole. And so as the Dalai Lama said, we are responsible toward the whole world. Notice he did not say we are responsible for the whole world.

Again, our purpose and mission is liberation—mutual support and encouragement for waking up in this life, with all that this may mean for each person in terms of their engagement with the world. I would caution anyone who may assume that positions held by anyone in the sangha, including the teachers, somehow represent Ordinary Mind's "official" position. The Buddha taught the relinquishing of all views (not just the ones we disagree with, nor even just the ones we agree with). If you really understand what this means, the appropriate action will spontaneously emerge within each situation, each moment.

I'm taking a little time with this because it is an important issue as the sangha grows and develops. I realize that some folks have expressed an interest in forming social action groups within the sangha. This is of course perfectly fine, as long as these groups are not represented as official programs of the Ordinary Mind Zen group. They would be, rather, independent affiliations of folks with shared interests in a particular topic or issue. I am especially cautious about replicating in Ordinary Mind the social structures and apparatus that we find in so many spiritual communities which, no matter how well-intentioned, would ultimately prove a distraction from the central purpose of Ordinary Mind.

The Dharma is simple, yet incomparably profound. Our immediate, direct encounter with each other and with the reality of just this is our central teaching: this "crisis-resolving" encounter, in the context of openness, curiosity, and compassion is our method for realizing wholeness and well-being in our world. Not "the" world; our world. It is the source and functioning of true liberation. This is not like any other place or experience or path: let's not try to turn it into something familiar and reassuring.

As always, if you have any reflections or questions about this, please let me know.

Question of the day

2008-01-15T07:48:00.000-06:00

Can you prove that you are not already the mind of enlightenment?

This question came up in zazen, like all great questions.

My immediate response was, yes, of course I can!

How?

Because I still do stupid things.

From what mind would you know that?

Ummm. Ok, but I am oblivious much of the time.

What mind is able to recognize that?

???

In fact, what mind “knows” it is “not enlightened”? What mind could possibly know that?

Take all the time you need.

Foundations of Zen Practice

2008-01-13T16:50:00.001-06:00

Ordinary Mind will offer a Monday evening class in the foundations of Zen practice in January and February.

This course is intended to introduce new and experienced Zen practitioners, as well as those who are generally curious about Zen practice, to its fundamental principles and concepts. The class will provide information and experiential teaching about the origins of Buddhism, the life and teachings of the Buddha, and the cultivation of practice in meditation and in the life of the sangha, the community of practitioners. Zen as practiced here at Ordinary Mind fosters the awakened mind through meditation, study, relational and experiential practice, and inquiry. It is a practical application of time-tested methods for deepening awareness and intimacy with all things, here and now, rather than striving for a mystical or esoteric experience or formal monastic discipline. Our practice, as Joko has taught it, focuses on waking up in our everyday lives, our ongoing relationships, and our ordinary activities. Please join us to explore together just what this practice of Zen offers.

January 21-February 25
Monday evenings
7:00-8:00 class 8:00-8:30 meditation
Suggested donation: $60.00

Note: Please do not allow your financial situation to hinder your participation. Just offer what may be appropriate to your circumstances.

What’s Your Consumption Factor? - New York Times

2008-01-02T10:10:00.000-06:00

Here is a very thought-provoking article by Jared Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: What’s Your Consumption Factor? - New York Times

The Zen tradition has for over a thousand years pointed to the dangers associated with greed and ignorance and hatred. These factors afflict us at every level from the individual to the global. Perhaps this year will be a time of awakening and a great turning from the self-centered dream of gratifying ourselves in seeking comfort and ease. Perhaps this year we can begin a serious inquiry into how much is enough to sustain our lives, and how much we might relinquish in the service of the larger good. Such an inquiry must also take place at every level, from the individual to the global. There is a new sense of urgency that makes more people open to such an inquiry. Let us engage together in serious conversations and activities that will foster a more harmonious and healthy way of being in the world.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T23:53:00.001-06:00

Chicago afternoon
Originally uploaded by Peg Syverson.

This is the view from my window here in Chicago. The woods are spectacular in snowy silence, yet the days are filled with the warmth and sparkle of family gatherings. May the New Year bring everyone on earth a fresh beginning and a deep turning toward peace, joy, and complete awakening! I hope you are finding within yourselves a deeper commitment and profound appreciation for your own path, unfolding right through life as it is, this very moment. You are embraced by the entire universe in all of its terrifying splendor. We cannot comprehend the reality of it with our tiny minds, we can only stagger forward, slack-jawed with wonder.