Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The best way to be independent
Do not go after the past,
Nor lose yourself in the future.
For the past no longer exists,
And the future is not yet here.
By looking deeply at things just as they are,
In this moment, here and now,
The seeker lives calmly and freely.
You should be attentive today,
For waiting until tomorrow is too late.
Death can come and take us by surprise--
How can we gainsay it?
The one who knows
How to live attentively
Night and day
Is the one who knows
The best way to be independent.
-Bhaddekaratta Sutra
From "The Pocket Buddha Reader," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2001
Monday, September 19, 2005
Dharma on the Web from Buddhadharma
Meditation is a way of working with
the neurosis of ego, so in order to
understand the psychology of meditation
we must understand the dynamics of that
neurosis. According to Buddhist psychology,
the basis of ego is the tendency to solidify
energy into a barrier that separates space into
two entities, I and the Other, the space in here
and the space out there. This process is technically
termed dualistic fixation. First there is the initial
creation of the barrier, which is the sensing of other,
and then the inference of inner or I. This is the birth
of ego. We identify with what is in here
and struggle to redress that imbalance
further solidifies the weall. The irony of the barrier-
creating process is that we lose track of the fact
that we have created the barrier and, instead,
act as if it was always there. After the initial
creation of I and Other, I feels the territory
outsed itself, determining if it is threatening,
attractive, or uninteresting.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The bimonthly Buddhadharma always includes suggestions for Dharma websites...here are a few from the last issue:
www.killingthebuddha.com
www.accesstoinsight.org
www.zenguide.com
www.nalandabodhi.org
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Harvest of Peace
September 18, 2005
Today a day of double auguries. The San Diego Shambhala Meditation Group inaugurated its new home (4060 Adams Avenue), and our residence there began with the Harvest of Peace celebration and an address of the Sakyong to all Shambhala groups around the world.
We have a Shambhala Council in place, and this morning we held our first meeting at the new center. There are many projects in the works. Shambhala Levels 3, 4 and 5 are coming up in October, December and February, which marks the first time that all the levels will have been offered in San Diego. We are set with other classes in the Buddhist Studies Series (currently Eric Heinz is leading a class on the Six Paramitas). On the weekend of November 11th, Ben Howard will present the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. And Petra Youngberg will be leading a class on Dharma Arts in the near future (which will culminate in March with the annual Shambhala Arts Festival).
The photographs included herein were taken during the Harvest of Peace celebration at the new Shambhala Center.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Nowness
We need to find the link between our traditions and our present experience of life. Nowness, or the magic of the present moment, is what joins the wisdom of the past with the present.
Chögyam Trungpa
Friday, August 19, 2005
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Solitary Retreat
July 31 marks the first day of a week-long solitary retreat. I had been thinking about a solitary retreat since the end of the Dathun at Shambhala Mountain Center and the opportunity presented itself on Savary Island, where I usually spend the month of August with my family. Circumstances brought me a week alone and I embarked on the meditation retreat. At first I tried to work out a rigid schedule. However, this soon fell apart and the week determined its own schedule of sitting, work, walking and reading. Though the week was extremely difficult, with plenty of thoughts about giving up, the nights were the real challenge. Sleep became extremely hard to attain. Even on days when the work was hard (cutting firewood and the like), it seemed like the dam of incessant thoughts and stories burst forth with all its power as soon as I tried to lay down to sleep. And so, the week was almost sleepless on top of everything else. I became quite desperate at times, even having had bouts with insomnia on a regular basis during my life.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Great Stupa, SMC
The Great Stupa, June 21, 2005.
People gathered to circumambulate and then enter the Stupa.
People gathered to circumambulate and then enter the Stupa.
Circumambulation, Stupa
While circumambulating the Stupa, this group carries a burner with Juniper as a purifying element.
Entering Stupa, Juniper smoke
As people enter the Stupa they bow and walk through the Juniper smoke.
Back of the Buddha
The large concrete Buddha looks down in the interior of the Great Stupa. His hands are in the teaching mudra. He is heavy in materiality but light in his gaze. The back of this Buddha is still open. Work on his image progresses slowly. The space between his shoulder blades will receive hundreds of thousands of mantras.
Buddha without expectations
The Great Stupa at Shambhala Mountain Center
stands high upon a hill.
It is visible from most places on the land.
At night it is a beacon of reflected light.
During the frequent passing storms it is a potential
attraction for lightning, light and energy.
A place to visit before dawn.
A place in which to meditate in the presence
of the enormous concrete Buddha.
The Great Stupa calls one back
again and again,
even from a distance, away from the land.
stands high upon a hill.
It is visible from most places on the land.
At night it is a beacon of reflected light.
During the frequent passing storms it is a potential
attraction for lightning, light and energy.
A place to visit before dawn.
A place in which to meditate in the presence
of the enormous concrete Buddha.
The Great Stupa calls one back
again and again,
even from a distance, away from the land.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Bodhisattva vows
Have been attending a dathun at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado...it's been the usual ups and downs as always in intensives...a couple of good days along with some bad ones of pain and torrents and torrents of un-noticed thoughts...my son is here with me and his presence I think marks a good insertion of the everyday into the practice...we always ask: how do we take this back into the world?...well, I think I've found one of the answers...take some of the world with you!...Today marks the end of the first week and one more week to the end...today is a very special day...Acharya Galan Ferguson offered Bodhisattva vows. I took the vow...we had a meeting about it and an interview with Acharya Ferguson a couple of days ago...the interview was to be 5 minutes but we talked about everything from Shambhala to the vows to film and literature...so today was the day and he offered a very moving and wonderful ceremony at the end of which we offered our gifts and he bestowed the new names...I offered my reading glasses for vision in the case that my mother made for me to represent the container/space which my parents provided for us as we were growing up...a container without constraints that left us free to explore the world...and a pendant of the buddha of course representing the example of the buddha...and my name is Samten Serri (Meditation Golden Mountain)...
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Albero
"As a lamp, a cataract, a star in space
an illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble
a dream, a cloud, a flash of lightning
view all created things like this."
(from The Diamond Sutra)
an illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble
a dream, a cloud, a flash of lightning
view all created things like this."
(from The Diamond Sutra)
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Monday, June 06, 2005
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Be a lamp unto yourself/appa deepo bhava
This is one of the most often repeated of the Buddha’s recommendations. Its valuable suggestion remains of continuing relevance to practitioners new and old. Whether we might call it a prescription, a recommendation or a suggestion, this is one of the Buddha’s deepest, most incisive revelations. The meaning of this brief teaching is apparently very clear and obvious, but it ranges far and wide to cover what its most literal reading might not make immediately apparent.
To be “a lamp unto [one’s] self” means to shed light over one’s own presence and actions, to make one’s presence apparent moment by moment, present moment by present moment, in the here and now. Maybe we could like the lamp to our contemporary spotlight, where light is shed on one “spot” not before it nor behind it. The spot that is en-lightened is the present. And so, the onus is on each one of us to shed light on our present, moment-by-moment, enabling us to live the present unhindered by the conditioning of the past or the anxiety for the future. The possibility of living in the present is a revolutionary aspect of the Buddha’s example, for it leaves totally within our grasp the possibility of being not a-historically but in what might be termed historically present.
But to be a lamp, to shed light on a spot or on a moment, also serves as a beacon for others. This is what the Buddha himself represents, an example, a lamp in the darkness that illuminates the possibility of seeing the present upon which it shines. This finds continuity in our inherent Buddha nature. We are all potentially Buddhas in the making, and the lamp that aids in actualizing that nature is also the lamp that guides others toward the available path.
The other side of the coin of “be a lamp unto yourself” is that we should not represent our experience as one that is easily and mechanically transferable to others. Each one of us has shed light onto ourselves. The path must be that of our personal experience of it. There are no shortcuts along the path, and our lamp is fueled by our own energies along it. We cannot pretend to use another’s energy (experience) to fuel our lamp, we cannot lend our energy to power another’s lamp, and we cannot be a lamp onto another. But we can be that beacon that makes it clear that the path is possible, and that it is peopled by others on a similar journey. Imagine walking along a path in the darkness, and seeing myriad lights moving along it like innumerable fireflies. Each one generates its own light, each one moves independently of the others, experiencing its own relationship with the world, but all of them share the life of a firefly. Being a lamp onto ourselves communicates to others that while the journey might at times be lonely, we are not alone.
And finally, being “a lamp unto [one’s] self” is an encouraging representation of the energy that we all carry within ourselves as a resource for discovering the true nature of the world.
“Meditation is not an escape from life…but preparation for really being in life.”
Thich Nhat Hahn
To be “a lamp unto [one’s] self” means to shed light over one’s own presence and actions, to make one’s presence apparent moment by moment, present moment by present moment, in the here and now. Maybe we could like the lamp to our contemporary spotlight, where light is shed on one “spot” not before it nor behind it. The spot that is en-lightened is the present. And so, the onus is on each one of us to shed light on our present, moment-by-moment, enabling us to live the present unhindered by the conditioning of the past or the anxiety for the future. The possibility of living in the present is a revolutionary aspect of the Buddha’s example, for it leaves totally within our grasp the possibility of being not a-historically but in what might be termed historically present.
But to be a lamp, to shed light on a spot or on a moment, also serves as a beacon for others. This is what the Buddha himself represents, an example, a lamp in the darkness that illuminates the possibility of seeing the present upon which it shines. This finds continuity in our inherent Buddha nature. We are all potentially Buddhas in the making, and the lamp that aids in actualizing that nature is also the lamp that guides others toward the available path.
The other side of the coin of “be a lamp unto yourself” is that we should not represent our experience as one that is easily and mechanically transferable to others. Each one of us has shed light onto ourselves. The path must be that of our personal experience of it. There are no shortcuts along the path, and our lamp is fueled by our own energies along it. We cannot pretend to use another’s energy (experience) to fuel our lamp, we cannot lend our energy to power another’s lamp, and we cannot be a lamp onto another. But we can be that beacon that makes it clear that the path is possible, and that it is peopled by others on a similar journey. Imagine walking along a path in the darkness, and seeing myriad lights moving along it like innumerable fireflies. Each one generates its own light, each one moves independently of the others, experiencing its own relationship with the world, but all of them share the life of a firefly. Being a lamp onto ourselves communicates to others that while the journey might at times be lonely, we are not alone.
And finally, being “a lamp unto [one’s] self” is an encouraging representation of the energy that we all carry within ourselves as a resource for discovering the true nature of the world.
“Meditation is not an escape from life…but preparation for really being in life.”
Thich Nhat Hahn
Friday, June 03, 2005
The Heart Sutra
Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called "profound illumination," and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?"
Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita.
Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.
Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."
When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?"
Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita.
Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.
Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."
When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Teaching
The Buddha said to Ananda: "Truly, Ananda, it's not easy to teach the way of freedom to others. In teaching freedom to others, the best way is to first establish five things and then teach. What are the five? When you teach others, you must think:
I will teach in a gradual and sensitive way.
I will speak with the goal in mind.
I will speak with gentleness.
I will not speak in order to gain anything.
I will not speak with a view to harming anyone.
If you establish these five things, your teaching will be well received.
Anguttara Nikaya
(from the pocket Buddha reader, anne bancroft ed., Shambhala Editions)
I will teach in a gradual and sensitive way.
I will speak with the goal in mind.
I will speak with gentleness.
I will not speak in order to gain anything.
I will not speak with a view to harming anyone.
If you establish these five things, your teaching will be well received.
Anguttara Nikaya
(from the pocket Buddha reader, anne bancroft ed., Shambhala Editions)
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Retreat, Yucca Valley
Lamees, Victoria and I attented a week-long Vipassana retreat led by Jack Kornfield. The retreat was held at the Mentalphysics Institute, in Yucca Valley. Being a silent retreat the work was that much more intensive and deep.
SELECTED JOURNAL ENTRIES
The desert of yourself
in meditation
blossoms
“if you believe your mind you might risk losing it”
“touch whatever comes with clarity and compassion”
long day
walking meditation alternating with sitting
desert is beautiful
this year we did not make it out as much as
we usually do
quite a few hare
large and small
running all around
sitting at times painful
then fine
the usual
Jack Kornfield’s dhamma talk wonderful mix of dhamma
anecdotes jokes and poetry
one of his most touching quotes from the desert fathers
…what to do if a monk falls asleep, shake him? No, allow his
head to rest on your lap…
half the night ok other half not
walked labyrinth after breakfast
then desert…found crystal
good sitting session today
pain there but trying to focus on it
as well as breath as return to nowness
body…
sound breath body pain
all transitory
all changing
all impermanent…
“the better way of living alone”
do not dwell in the past
do not fret about future
live in present, now, moment…
in body not in mind’s constructions
schedule is good
sit and walk
sit and walk
sit and walk and eat
and walk and sit and walk…
Dhamma talk on pain
Recognize it and let it be
but provide space for it
to dissipate
as much space as needed
expand as it it needs to
expand beyond all limits
don’t focalize it and
concentrate it into one
spot or area
walk in desert
cougar tracks?
An odd cactus
bare with long sharp spines
“develop a meditation that is like water”
“without wisdom you can do nothing for others,
you remain in the perfection of wisdom, which is
the awareness that what you are doing is both
essential and illusory.” Prajnaparamita
the rattle of creosote
and pointedness of cholla
dry apparently dead sticks grow green
and blossom…miniscule flowers bud
out of invisible stalks
the desert is alive with smells
even as it seems still and dessicated
SELECTED JOURNAL ENTRIES
The desert of yourself
in meditation
blossoms
“if you believe your mind you might risk losing it”
“touch whatever comes with clarity and compassion”
long day
walking meditation alternating with sitting
desert is beautiful
this year we did not make it out as much as
we usually do
quite a few hare
large and small
running all around
sitting at times painful
then fine
the usual
Jack Kornfield’s dhamma talk wonderful mix of dhamma
anecdotes jokes and poetry
one of his most touching quotes from the desert fathers
…what to do if a monk falls asleep, shake him? No, allow his
head to rest on your lap…
half the night ok other half not
walked labyrinth after breakfast
then desert…found crystal
good sitting session today
pain there but trying to focus on it
as well as breath as return to nowness
body…
sound breath body pain
all transitory
all changing
all impermanent…
“the better way of living alone”
do not dwell in the past
do not fret about future
live in present, now, moment…
in body not in mind’s constructions
schedule is good
sit and walk
sit and walk
sit and walk and eat
and walk and sit and walk…
Dhamma talk on pain
Recognize it and let it be
but provide space for it
to dissipate
as much space as needed
expand as it it needs to
expand beyond all limits
don’t focalize it and
concentrate it into one
spot or area
walk in desert
cougar tracks?
An odd cactus
bare with long sharp spines
“develop a meditation that is like water”
“without wisdom you can do nothing for others,
you remain in the perfection of wisdom, which is
the awareness that what you are doing is both
essential and illusory.” Prajnaparamita
the rattle of creosote
and pointedness of cholla
dry apparently dead sticks grow green
and blossom…miniscule flowers bud
out of invisible stalks
the desert is alive with smells
even as it seems still and dessicated
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