Dharma Talk by Tim Lerch, JDPSN
"You Are Already Complete" Dharma Talk by Richard Shrobe
Dharma Talk by Zen Master Wu Kwang (Richard Shrobe)
"Keep the Mind of a Student" Dharma Talk by Ken Kessel
Dharma Talk by Zen Master Jok Um (Ken Kessel)
"We Really Don't Know" Dharma Talk by Jason Quinn, JDPSN
Dharma Talk with Zen Master Bon Haeng (Mark Houghton) April 3, 2021
This Wisdom of Milarepa
Who was Milarepa?
"Milarepa was a Tibetan master, yogi, and poet who led an inspiring life of spiritual progress and human accomplishment. His story exudes timeless themes of evildoing and redemption, perseverance in the face of many hardships, and dedication to the path." - Lion's Roar
Below are just a few select quotes.
“Toss to the winds your concern for this life, and impress on your mind the unknown time of your death. Remembering the pain of samsara [rebirth], why long for the unnecessary?”
“My religion is to live and die without regret.”
“The ultimate practice is not to consider
Distractions and drowsiness as faults.
Doing so to stave them off is like
Kindling a lamp in bright daylight.”
“I study my mind and therefore all appearances are my texts.”
“To probe deep into your roots
The ignorance and confusion are you yourself.
The preconceptions which are yourself
Are envoys and agents sent by yourself.”
“All the water and drink you’ve consumed
From beginningless time until now
Has failed to satisfy your thirst or bring you contentment.
Drink therefore of this stream
Of enlightened mind,
Fortunate Ones.”
Dreams of Harada Roshi
In life we have dreams, we have hopes, we have ideals. But what does it mean to have a dream? Everything in this world is in flux. No matter how real we may think things are, everything passes. We all think our life is special, but no matter how happy we are or how much we achieve, we all die.
We live in a dream, in delusion. We can see the beautiful flowers and hear the birds’ lovely songs, but we don’t see what is alive inside that experience. We see a superficial layer of the world and acknowledge that as important. We don’t see that it’s all transient, a dream of a dream. Instead of realizing that we are living a dream, we take the superficial to be real and permanent. But in Buddhism we recognize it all as a dream and awaken to what is real.
It is not bad to have a dream. Because we dream, we can achieve things. But have humans become any better for all the things that have been discovered and created? Have our values improved? Is the world any more at peace? We chase dreams, but we forget to realize ourselves. We have to see the reality and value of who is alive right here and now. When we awaken to the splendid value of each person, we no longer need to depend on dreams and hopes and ideals. Instead, we can depend on our own life right at our very own feet.”
This modern world has many problems
Our teaching this week comes from Mu Sang Sunim – a monk who lived here at Dharma Zen Center for a long time. In 2000, construction had finished on Mu Sang Sa (pictured above), the Kwan Um School of Zen’s head temple in Asia. (Dharma Zen Center is part of the Kwan Um School of Zen.) Mu Sang Sunim gave a speech that seems more important today than when he gave it over 19 years ago!
"Yorabun anyonghashimnika? [How are you, everybody?] Welcome everyone to the opening ceremony for Kye Ryong Sahn [Mu Sang Sa] International Zen Center. As foreigners we have come here to learn the ancient wisdom of Korean Buddhism. We are especially grateful for the untiring efforts and wonderful, clear teaching of our founding teacher, Zen Master Seung Sahn; also for the teaching and the efforts of great monks, teachers and Buddhists in Korea, Asia and the whole world. This center would not exist without all of their efforts.
Buddhism is very old-maybe some people in Korea think it is too old and out of date. They like computers and the internet. But in the West, [when] people who have grown up with no knowledge of Buddhism encounter Buddhism for the first time, it seems very new, very modern-more modern and more helpful in dealing with modern problems than our western thinking. Because this modern world, which is so fascinating and interesting, does have many problems. We are all threatened by pollution, nuclear and biological weapons and the unknown effects of technology. And we are in danger of losing our true human nature.
Our Buddhism is not old, not new. It is simply a return to our true nature, which is before thinking, science and philosophy and beyond all opposites thinking. So I hope we can all come together and practice here in this wonderful new temple-people from east and west alike-find our true nature, and save this world. Komsahamnida [Thank you]."
What will we do with our time?
Nancy Brown Hedgpeth, JDPSN
All of us have had many, many teachers: our parents, school teachers, our family and friends. Zen Master Seung Sahn and all of these wonderful teachers sitting here. The clouds. The sky. How we live all of this teaching we receive is very important. One of my teachers while I was growing up was the minister of our Congregational church. He was a wonderful man-dedicated, gentle and with an artist's mind. He was quite well-read and always brought to his sermons stories he had been reading that inspired him.
One story this minister told was of a man who drove a trolley car. At the end of this man's work day, he would leave his trolley car at the end of one track, and he would wait 42 minutes for the next car to come, pick him up, turn around and take him on his way home. At first he simply sat at the end of the track and was restless for 42 minutes.
But day after day passed, and he began to notice his surroundings and noticed that it was a junkyard, with old broken-down trolley cars and car parts and litter and weeds. One day he not only noticed these, but acted. He started to pick up and stack litter; he'd bring a rake; he'd bring a plastic garbage bag and haul it away full: 42 minutes every day. Then an occasional Saturday. Then others began to notice the change and began to pitch in-time or money or tools or a truck load hauled away or plants. Slowly, slowly this place began to be a park. In his mind, it had already been a park.
So what will we do with our time? With our hands and with our money and with our energy? What kind of place can we make?
—Nancy Brown Hedgpeth, JDPSN
Women and Zen
The most common explanation about karma is cause and effect. What that means is that whatever happens in our life, whatever we are facing, what we are dealing with, whatever obstacles and hindrances and pain and suffering—whatever we have comes from some primary cause. But if you practice for some time then you see the meaning of karma in a broader way. That means that karma does not define our situation. What’s important is what kind of choices we make.
This is an important point. You cannot make excuses like “that is my karma” because it’s an open situation. What’s important is what you do with your karma, what kind of choices you make. And if you make right choices, then your karma might become your dharma. And then you can get free of your karma. Or at least you can control your karma. It always works in this way. Either karma controls you, or you control your karma. Having a human body means we have some karma. You cannot get rid of it, but you can use it.
—Zen Master Bon Shim, the regional Zen Master of the Kwan Um School of Zen (our parent organization) in Europe
Buddha's Enlightenment (Teaching by Richard Shrobe)
Once a student, while in a particular mind set, said to me, "If I hear one more talk about Buddha's enlightenment, I think I'll scream." This raises a question as to the purpose of our coming together to celebrate, commemorate, and recollect Buddha's enlightenment. At Providence Zen Center, there hangs a calligraphy which reads:
Buddha went to Snow Mountain.
Sat, don't know. Six years passed.
Saw a bright star, got enlightenment.
Without thinking, full universe.
The essence of Buddha’s Enlightenment is in the last line: “Without thinking, full universe.” Two aspects are pointed out here: "full universe” and “without thinking.” “Full universe” means “nothing” is not nothing. To think “nothing” is nothing is like the old Gershwin song form the opera Porgy and Bess: “I got plenty of nothin’.” That means you are carrying a big bundle of nothing around with you, i.e. you are clinging to nothing. However, the second line of the song says, “And nothin’s plenty for me.” “Nothing” truly perceived and practiced means that without holding or grasping, we clearly connect with everything we encounter or touch, moment by moment by moment and that truly is the practice of manifesting Buddha’s enlightenment as “full universe.”
5 Suzuki Roshi Quotes that Will Empty Your Mind!
“Real Freedom is to not feel limited when wearing this Zen robe, this troublesome formal robe. Similarly, in our busy life we should wear this civilization without being bothered by it, without ignoring it, without being caught by it.”
“You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in your mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.”
“Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.”
“The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for all existence. No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because all existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.”
“There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen.”
Ta Hui's Teaching
Our teaching this week comes from a book called “Swampland Flowers, The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui.” (translated by J.C. Cleary)
”The Great Chinese Master Ta Hui Tsung Kao (1089-1163) is a central figure in the Rinzai school of Zen, known for being a passionate advocate of the koan practice so important in that tradition…He emphasizes that the liberation promised by the Buddha is available to everyone in a any walk of life, and that any occupation can be a form of Zen practice.” – J.C. Cleary
Don’t Keep Knowledge
When you study the Path, before you’ve gained an entry, it feels endlessly difficult. When you hear the comments of the teachers of the school, it seems even harder to understand. This is because if the mind that grasps for realization and seeks rest is not removed, you are obstructed by this. As soon as this mind stops, you finally realize the Path is neither difficult nor easy, and also that it cannot be passed on by teachers.
A Teaching from our School Zen Master Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Bobby Rhodes)
I think it’s difficult to believe in yourself, to trust the process of Zen practice. When you first start practicing, often you feel worse. You start watching your brain and watching all your thoughts, and you think you’re getting worse, not better. So coming to this practice and staying, requires great faith, great courage, and a great question. You have to develop the ability to see your thinking, and it can be painful at times. It’s not an easy path. I was thinking about a story that I heard Zen Master Seung Sahn tell.
It’s about a sparrow. She lived in a large forest. This bird was very evolved: she never checked, held or made anything! She was always paying attention, and was so gregarious that she knew all the animals in the forest. She not only knew the animals, she also respected and loved them.
One day a very rapid, horrible fire started. It was a dry, windy day. The sparrow was of course paying attention, and she flew straight up. She used her intuition, saw a pond, filled her beak, flew over the fire and dropped the water. Over and over and over, this action of dropping one drop of water onto the forest fire. And then, finally, totally exhausted, she fell into the fire.
I love that story. So . . . who died? Did her efforts even help? If we think that way—life, death, the fire was put out, it wasn’t put out—that’s a big mistake. We all know this fire. We need to know the fire, the suffering, the pain. It’s impossible not to see it. But, again, we’re very smart, so we find all these ways to avoid looking at it. We have movies; we have books; we have all kinds of things to distract ourselves. Human beings are very smart, but intelligence will not show us the way. Only a strong vow and strong direction will bring us to knowing how to put out the fire.
What the Buddha Taught
We have a wonderful library here at Dharma Zen Center. Small…but wonderful. I pulled a book off called What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, and found wonderful wisdom on meditation inside. The following teaching is from the chapter " ‘Meditation’ or Mental Culture: Bhavana.” This is just a taste. I encourage you to explore further this book and chapter.
The Buddha’s Teaching, particularly his way of ‘meditation’ aims at producing a state of perfect mental health, equilibrium and tranquility. It is unfortunate that hardly any other section of the Buddha’s teaching is so much misunderstood as ‘meditation’, both by Buddhists and non-Buddhists. The moment the word ‘meditation’ is mentioned, one thinks of an escape from the daily activities of life; assuming a particular posture, like a statue in some cave or cell in a monastery, in some remote place cut off from society; and musing on, or being absorbed in, some kind of mystic or mysterious thought or trance. True Buddhist meditation does not mean this kind of escape at all.
The most important discourse ever given by the Buddha on mental development (‘meditation’) is called the Satipatthana-sutta “The Setting Up of Mindfulness’ (No. 22 of the Digha-nikaya, or No. 10 of the Majjhima-nikaya)…The ways of ‘meditation’ given in this discourse are not cut off from life, not do they avoid life; on the contrary, they are concerned with our life, our daily activities, our sorrows and joys, our words and thoughts, our moral and intellectual occupations...”
You can purchase the book via Amazon here.
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Milarepa's Songs
Milarepa was a Tibetan Buddhist poet, hermit, and very enlightened man. When people came to him seeking help, often a song would spontaneously appear to him and he would teach by singing this wisdom. These songs are compiled in “The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa.” I have Volume 2 and, often will open the book up to a random page and see what’s there. So I opened the book…and…
Saturday – “A bird knows when and where
To spread and close its wings.”
Let Your Universe Become Large
“Koan practice means pulling the rug out from under your thinking. When you do this, it becomes starkly clear that thinking has nothing to do with your true nature. Your true nature is before thinking. Kong-ans can't be approached with your thinking, they must be approached with your confidence. This means asking, "Do I believe in myself? Can I trust life's experience this very moment?" We may think that confidence is an encyclopedia salesperson ringing a doorbell, confident in what she's selling. This isn't confidence, this is selling yourself something, selling yourself an idea and making it so strong, you can't be open to the universe. True confidence is completely accepting your not-knowing. It's accepting that no one knows and understanding that this is okay. When you do this, your universe becomes bigger. But when you take one idea, formulate something, and become attached to it, your universe shrinks. So let your universe become large. Let your sitting be without boundaries, and a good answer will appear all by itself.”
—Zen Master Bon Haeng (Mark Houghton), a Zen Master in the Kwan Um School (Dharma Zen Center’s greater organization)
The full Teaching can be found at:
https://kwanumzen.org/teaching-library/2002/04/01/let-your-universe-become-large
What is Love?
One evening, after a Dharma talk at the Cambridge Zen Center, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen Sa, “What is love?”
Soen-sa said, “I ask you, what is love?”
The student was silent.
Soen-sa said, “This is love.”
The student was still silent.
Soen-sa said, “You ask me: I ask you. This is love.”
From Dropping Ashes on the Buddha – The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn, by Stephen Mitchell