On meditation

http://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-zazen/

One aspect of relating to our practice is to approach it with a balance of effort and patience. To find that which is beyond our ideas of self, we need to engage in our own experience of practice. Books and articles, however well written, are no substitute.

You should preferably sit in the morning, starting with ten minutes a day for the first week.

Koan Studies

Koan Study

More Koan study

Understanding koans

Our imperfect but Whole-hearted practice

Dogen:

To study zen is to study the self;
To study the self is to forget the self;
To forget the self is to see the interconnectedness of all beings.

Stephen and Martine Batchelor

http://www.martinebatchelor.org/maronline.html

http://www.martinebatchelor.org/stephenbio.html

Suffering in South Africa

Sentient beings are numberless; we vow to save them all. Delusions are endless; we vow to cut through them all. The teachings are infinite; we vow to learn them all. The Buddha way is inconceivable; we vow to attain it.

Sources on Mindfulness

http://www.kwanumzen.com/primarypoint/

Fwd: Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Tricycle's Daily Dharma: July 15, 2007

The Present Moment

The present moment is the most profound and challenging teacher we will ever meet in our lives. It is a compassionate teacher, it extends to us no judgment, no censure, no measurement of success and failure. The present moment is a mirror, in its reflection we learn how to see. Learning how to look into this mirror without deluding ourselves is the source of all wisdom. In this mirror we see what contributes to the confusion and discord in our lives and what contributes to harmony and understanding. We see the relationship between pain and its cause on a moment-to-moment level, we see the bond between love and its source. We see what it is that connects us and what it is that alienates us.

--Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield

Anger: A Bigger Container

Tricycle's Daily Dharma: July 14, 2007

A Bigger Container

We can talk about "oneness" until the cows come home. But how do we actually separate ourselves from others? How? The pride out of which anger is born is what separates us.

And the solution is a practice in which we experience this separating emotion as a definite bodily state. When we do, A Bigger Container is created. What is created, what grows, is the amount of life I can hold without it upsetting me, dominating me. At first this space is quite restricted, then it's a bit bigger, and then it's bigger still. It need never cease to grow. And the enlightened state is that enormous and compassionate space. But as long as we live we find there is a limit to our container's size and it is at that point that we must practice.

And how do we know where this cut-off point is? We are at that point when we feel any degree of upset, of anger. It's no mystery at all. And the strength of our practice is how big that container gets. . . . This practice of making A Bigger Container is essentially spiritual because it is essentially nothing at all. A Bigger Container isn't a thing;  awareness is not a thing. . . .

--Charlotte Joko Beck

Ancestors and Environments

Tricycle's Daily Dharma: July 13, 2007

Mothers and Fathers Before Them


Practicing Buddhism is about discovering ourselves to be in a great, flowing river

of continuities. Just as our mother and father live inside us, so do

generations upon generations of mothers and fathers before them. Part of

our task is to discover how all our ancestors inform our lives--and the

same holds true for all forms of life, for we have been shaped not only

by human ancestors but also by the environments in which they

lived.--Joan Halifax

Rehearsal -- A noiseless, patient spider

A noiseless patient spider

A noiseless patient spider,
I marked whereon a little promintory it stood isolated
Marked how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding.
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul from where you stand,
Surrounded, detached in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Until the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere O my soul.

Rehearsal - A noiseless patient spider

A noiseless patient spider
I marked whereon a little promontory it stood isolated
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding
It launched forth filament, filament, filament out of itself
Every reeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you oh my soul from where you stand
surrounded, detached in measureless oceans of space
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them

Fwd: Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Tricycle's Daily Dharma: July 11, 2007

A Seamless GarmentA way to discover intimacy

with ourselves and all of life is to live with integrity, basing our

lives on a vision of compassionate nonharming. When we dedicate

ourselves to actions that do not hurt ourselves or others, our lives

become all of a piece, a seamless garment with nothing separate or

disconnected in the spiritual reality we discover. In order to live

with integrity, we must stop fragmenting and compartmentalizing our

lives. Telling lies at work and then expecting great truths in

meditation is nonsensical. Using our sexual energy in a way that harms

ourselves or others, and then expecting to know transcendent love in

another arena, is mindless. Every aspect of our lives is connected to

every other aspect of our lives. This truth is the basis for an awakened

life. When we live with integrity, we further enhance intimacy with

ourselves by being able to rejoice, taking active delight in our

actions.--Sharon Salzberg

Thoughts on life after the 4th of July

Been back a day or so from our visit to the North...to family. Having trouble settling down to work on projects... and maybe I need to "lean into the sharp points".

Wondering and needing to remember to remind the tech dept that I need to keep my CPUs in my classroom at the MS. Not to remove them so that my kids can use the tools in the fall.