I Love This World

Featured by LittleKnownMystic

While there may be many troubling events in our world and in our lives, Life and this World forever intrigue me.  I Love this World!  The purpose of this blog will be to mutually (you the reader and myself) to explore the fundamental nature of existence and reality.  About myself: mystic (why? what is the purpose of life?), science background, meditation, music interests, just retired (but still feel like a little kid), positive and hopeful.  I am not enlightened, so if you are please show me the way.  The fundamental premise in any blog that has spiritual, mystical, new-age or religious content is that words can only point the way to Reality.  My leanings are toward Buddhism and Eastern Philosophies, but science behooves us to remain objective. Is this possible?  In his day the Buddha encouraged locals to keep practicing their religion.  Those of major faiths, I don’t mean to infringe on your beliefs or faith.  Faith is a form of positive thinking.   Just asking, do you think you are the wave or the ocean, or perhaps both?

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Spiritual Encouragement and a Departed Cat

by LittleKnownMystic

All of us, whether we consciously know it or not, at some level continue to hold the great question of existence (the “Great Matter” according to Zen master Dogen.) These inquiries can vary from occasional spiritual pursuits (checking things out here and there) to perhaps basic Sunday, or even just holiday, Christian church worship and then all the way to being a yogi meditating in a cave.  In between lies the everyday dance of seeking the pleasant and avoiding the unpleasant, seeking comfort and avoiding discomfort — for ourselves, our families and others.  Why would this basic trait, common to all conscious beings, be at all connected to spiritual pursuits?   For humans, we could say that this is because once basic physical needs are met, we venture along the slippery slope of seeking happiness, for ourselves and others.  Happiness is not really a physical thing, rather a state of mind or simply a State, much like love is a state.  True happiness is special.  So, this “seeking happiness” or maybe just seeking peace can lead one toward spiritual pursuits, especially if one sees the basic nature of our realm to be forever changing and impermanent.  Once that sinks in, and unfortunately for most only at the end of their lives, the pursuit of happiness through attachment to the things, people, pursuits, accomplishments and other actions we love, loses some of its sweetness, and becomes a “pointer.” Disenchantment arises and we ironically ask, is there more?

What is the “payoff” of meditation and a disciplined spiritual training program, called “a practice?”   This question applies to many Buddhists and also those pursuing other types of meditation and spiritual work.  If an outsider were to watch what happens during a week-long Buddhist retreat, or sesshin, they might be appalled or very puzzled seeing people gazing motionless toward a wall, doing “nothing” for hours.  They then get up and silently practice walking mediation and later silently eat a communal formal meal (Oryoki) with very prescribed procedures.  The day starts early, 5:00 am.  What would be the payoff for this “self-induced torture?”  Beginners, and even advanced retreat participants will likely experience uncomfortable periods, from physical body pain due to unaccustomed sitting to mental pain of simply doing the discipline and concentration, to mental pain of facing difficult thoughts while sitting.

While Zen Master Dogen describes shikantaza, or just sitting, as the technique of non-thinking and experientially being “enlightenment itself,” a vast majority of those that sit experience a plethora of thoughts and emotions.  Due to our conditioning or karma, it is as if one’s head is a bell experiencing various harmonic levels of mental vibration.  Consider your head to be a cooking pot.  Sitting is all about taking care and being aware just like diligently preparing a savory pot of stew.  A lot of stuff happens while “sitting on the cushion!”  Despite the hardships, after a sesshin most individuals will report to a lesser or greater degree a sense of calmness and an ineffable feeling of being a little closer to the heart of the “Great Matter.”  For some, the whole retreat might be a truly wonderful and peaceful experience.  This might be attributable to their years of training or simply due to fortunate karma, or in other words, the coming together of positive causes and conditions. Below is a description one person’s recent experience at a retreat followed by a story from this mystic.   Sometimes there is unexpected encouragement.

This individual is an advanced practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism.  His dharma talk and experience can be listened to here.   Understandably, this individual was very concentrated and measured and likely his mind was quite calm, like a lake with few ripples.  He describes a certain period of walking meditation, where he was carefully focusing on making a right angle turn at the end of the meditation hall, when seemingly straight out of the floor, he hears the words “I will help you.”  He describes the words as “articulated, enunciated and said with great authority.”  This experience made a big, energetic, impact on this individual, creating a sense of encouragement, wonder, and tranquility.  These feelings had a staying effect.  He said he “felt cared for.”  Weeks later and after talking with his teacher he felt that the experience was a direct result of his concentration efforts and practice.  In the end he concludes that the words were not important at all; what was important was the openness, viability, receptivity and wisdom brought on by the event.   His talk is entitled; the True Dharma Appears of Itself.   

Prior to formally committing to the practice of Buddhist teachings I routinely meditated, primarily using various Samatha or yogic methods involving breathing techniques and mantras.  About 26 years ago, at the time working in Nevada in a State environmental position, helping support the family, I became increasingly discouraged as to what the benefits of meditation were. There seemed little peace or joy in it at the time and worldly stresses seemed to be piling on. Then, during a certain meditation, clear out of the blue the words “I am” reverberated in my head, and really in the whole body.  The experience was very uplifting and encouraging.  Looking back on this experience, the words “articulated, enunciated and said with great authority,” applied exactly.  A definite feeling or acknowledgement of being cared for, not being alone in the Universe, was present.  I still feel this to be true.   Particularly back then my practice included a certain amount of devotion toward a higher being, so the immediate thought was, “is God speaking to me?”  My answer/response to this was simply curiosity.  Buddhism teaches us emptiness, the essential no separate self of all phenomenon.  The flip side of this is interdependence.  To have a mediation experience with clear words is a blessing as well as a trap, that is, if one overthinks it. Internet research suggests a state where the individual realizes they are the pure, formless “I AM,” beyond the ego or mind. This is a non-dual state and a mystery beyond words.  Finally, as Goldstein and Kornfield write in Seeking the Heart of Wisdom “The greatest of our spiritual experiences become only a memory.  When one Western student described to an Asian teacher all of the important experiences of his years of practice, the only response he got was, ‘Oh, something more to let go of.’”

This mystic will add that everyday can be a spiritual experience, if we just stay mindful.  Our cat, Katy just passed away recently. She had advanced kidney failure, stopped her usual routines and then eventually refused to eat.  She had been sleeping under a chair in the closet for about a week, but on the morning of the day when the vet was to arrive to euthanize her, we found her nestled in the bottom tube of the cat tree.  It was a beautiful and sunny fall morning and Katy staggered to the door, wanting out.  I spent the next hour or so with her, while waiting for the vet, watching her slowly move from spot to spot, sunning herself, sniffing the air, and still interacting with me by gently rubbing up against my legs.  Did she know the end was near? Maybe, but that does not matter so much.  Did she feel the warmth of the sun and the gentle breezes? YES!  I sobbed uncontrollably while holding her as the vet administered the injection. 

Saturday

by LittleKnownMystic

There’s something to being on the highway for this old mystic that is a gateway for insight.  It’s been that way a long time.  Visual stimulation is probably the biggest trigger for human response and the movement while driving and seeing others around you, going and coming, passing and being passed is certainly fascinating and expanding.  It’s Saturday morning and this mystic is on his way to volunteer at the local Buddhist festival, driving down the freeway.  I wonder about my fellow travelers on the road and what they will do for the day, and perhaps most importantly, their experiences for the day.   This includes myself.  Saturday, especially for those that work weekdays, often is a day of errands or a day with special purpose.  The light entering my retina is translated into pictures and this evokes a response.  In Buddhist philosophy, the mind is considered the sixth sense, with thoughts and mental phenomena considered its objects. Just as the five physical senses perceive external objects, the mind perceives internal mental objects like thoughts, memories, and emotions. So, imagine all those people in all those cars, using their senses, including thought.  Now, as it turns out, on this particular Saturday, one of the Zen teachers is also leading a day of Mindfulness, with check in online.  While this mystic is not participating directly, this was in the back of his mind. 

I see “people” on the highway mostly just as cars.  It is thought and past conditioning that opens up an internal dialogue.  How odd, these carbon-based life forms, essentially life-support vehicles (of what, consciousness?), moving in car vehicles, with both being composed of earth elements and ultimately powered by the fossil energy of the sun.  It can get strange in a hurry.  Now, imagine each individual, or individuals, in those cars involved with their own sensory processes, some just grooving on music, others deep in thought about “problems” or maybe just planning lunch.  Some harbor anger, maybe at the big black truck tailgating them, or perhaps someone is having an argument.  There are a myriad possibilities.  Shift scales and move to the small, down to the quantum scale.  The momentary highway scene loses meaning – poof it is gone.  Same if we expand out, until earth is light years away. Again, a whole different world.  But one thing remains at all three scales and every intermediate one, namely the very sense of Being. It is very subtle and in Buddhist philosophy is called suchness.  As it is beyond thought, it is hard to describe.  Mindfulness is the process of being the observer of all six senses and opening up to this suchness.  It is a way to “see” more than the ordinary and very limited world.   Anther technique, Zen meditation or Shikantaza, just sitting, contains an exercise of letting go of thoughts, or non-thinking.  Anything we can think up, at least in terms of philosophy is not direct insight or Kensho, rather a dualistic mode capable of perpetuating a small separate self, even if the thought is a most excellent one!

Within this suchness many things will occur over the 24 hours of the day, both seen and unseen.   Not all of them will be pleasant. For example, due to natural laws one may have a car accident, or perhaps a heart attack – and your car will kill things. There is the ever-present dance within the world of phenomenon.  But for most of us there will be a series of basic experiences triggered by either the sense objects or thoughts that will have the flavor of either neutral, positive or negative.  While we do live in a mysterious world and universe, so much of our “reality” is wrapped up in our mental processes, namely reacting to the sense objects and thought objects and essentially being jerked around by them feeling very small and separate.  This mystic has talked previously about how we fabricate our world and create a mental model of it.  With mindfulness, seeing around the edges and through the cracks opens our perspective.  Just directly seeing the actual thing…. And all the people I see today, including this old mystic, contain and are influenced by a world of conditioning, namely inherited karma and karma we produce every time we react to a sense or thought object.  While I can never know “you” your actions will influence me! It’s a giant pool table of interacting billiard balls!  So, please be kind and considerate! 😊 Suchness can be kind and loving.

My volunteer assignment at the Buddhist festival was directing various Buddhist groups where to drop off and set up their booths.  Now, these are people who have trained in mindfulness.  Over the course of an hour and a half I interacted with everyone from twinkly-eyed masters, to happy hippy Buddhists, to older attentive and kind lay Buddhist practitioners.  Not everyone seemed mindful, however.    A few just drove right by.  Maybe they were so mindful they already knew where to drop off their stuff.  Others came late or exhibited some level of anxiety.  I loved the relaxed ladies who were followed by their non-Buddhist husbands in vans or trucks.  Good karma!  The point here is that all of us are shaped by conditioning developed through living in this realm and this in turn shapes our interactions with others.  It’s a work in progress.  Oh, and suchness includes thought, but don’t label it as suchness.  Who are we, anyway?

Reflections on the Human Condition and Spirituality

by LittleKnownMystic

It’s been about a year since the last post.  I’m OK – still mesmerized by phenomenon. And, yes, we live in dark political times.  The subject of this post breaches the topic of people on a spiritual path — why the path — based mostly on observations/interactions within my Zen sangha (community) and also reflections on some relationships with old (and not so old) friends.  Most of my spare writing time over the last year has been spent working on kind of a personal memoir using an online service called StoryWorth. It was actually a gift from one of my daughters as encouragement to write some stories about life experiences.  A little “nudge” from the kids, as well — better ask questions now, rather than wonder about “Pops” when his physical presence is just ashes. Also, my wife and I have also been traveling (she is not a mystic but a pragmatic down-to-earth person that is not particularly attached to the common “glitz” of the world.)  We have seen some amazing animals and scenery in Costa Rica and most recently in the Galapagos and Peru.  And you know, those creatures, be they sea lions, marine iguanas, giant ancient tortoises or the elusive Quetzal bird—they are like you and me, wanting to bask in the sun and feel the breeze. 

Yup, this mystic is aging, now 74 with some sever arthritis and  slowing senses. But like the wounded black knight in a Monty Python skit I and my suffering will keep moving along the spiritual path (which is not really linear nor is it winding)  — absurd as it may seem at times.

The Buddhist practice continues.  After some years of Zen practice, two things are becoming increasingly clear. First, there is something personally positive and reinforcing about continued meditation and mindfulness along with efforts to follow ethical and moral guidelines and study dharma (the teachings) through literature and interaction with teachers and others.  Secondly, it is hard to gage other beings.  They are a mystery.  People that practice a spiritual tradition, and for that matter those,  that on the surface do not, are each unique and in a “different space” as to mental and physical character, spiritual state, abilities, desired goals and life/work/family/relationship/socioeconomic/political status, etc.  We are all products of causes and conditions.  Using the term karma, it is the past actions of an individual and the effects of the collective interactions of that individual with others (who further share karma with still others –ad infinitum)  that determine the individuals present state and “steer” one in a certain direction in future existences.  For those at my Zen center, including this mystic, as we are all unique, we don’t “start” at the same place, do we?  Matter of fact spiritual paths are not linear. But why practice, e.g., Zen and what is the goal?  What is the payoff? 

Toward the end of his life Buddha reportedly said that all he taught was “suffering and the and of suffering.”  There is a certain, mostly unspoken, tension and confusion regarding a spiritual practice that leads to the end of suffering and whether that is the same as “enlightenment” and whether that should be the goal.  Recognizing the diversity of practitioners, probably the main intention, and not necessarily a “goal” of those who practice is to relieve suffering, whether it be for themselves alone or including others.

This mystic will argue that practice will lead to being less disturbed by suffering and the practice involves work with one’s Mind.  The Oxherding Pictures describe the Zen path of finding the Way and eventually taming the Ox, who in part represents our undisciplined and delusional mind. Even when one has tamed the Ox, and is no longer pulled around by craving, one is only half way along the path.  The Oxherding Pictures include the path that leads to no path and non-duality.  So, there is a lot to practice, but clearly the practice leads toward less suffering by taking us away from being affected or disturbed by our suffering and leading us toward a radical acceptance of our condition.  Hint: if we are working with our minds and the process is one of “taming,” perhaps literally getting out of hour head, where do “we” go.  Suggestion: a place known as the heart. 

My teacher tells me that “Zen is not an improvement project.”  However, Meditation and mindfulness practice, study of teachings and the precepts leads, to what might be called personal improvement and less suffering.  It is an intermediate and ongoing stage of practice, kind of where we sometimes calm the ox down.  There is some payoff in this alone, but as the Oxherding pictures imply the ultimate utility of Zen is more complex and includes a journey away from the small self and eventually a journey back to the everyday.  This mystic finds it sobering that even the wisest monks and senior lay members of my Zen center profess that they are likely “lifetimes” away from complete awakening or enlightenment.  However, no matter the starting point, a momentary glimpse, a momentary shift from the head to the heart, a momentary shift to crystal clear reality or “suchness” can happen at any time and is an important, “mini-payoff” for keeping up the effort in practice. 

To end.  There was an individual at our Zen center, whom this mystic really respected.  He excelled in chanting, was a dedicated meditator, taught and helped others. In the end he took his own life due to substance abuse issues and declining health.  Our karma is strong.  It is vicious and it can be cruel. There are no guarantees.  From Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva, he says “When you look at others think that it will be through them that you will come to Buddha hood.  So look at them with frank and loving hearts.”   Not all beings whom we meet, whether they be people, snakes or trees will always be kind or even appear very lovable.  They will invoke feelings.  But the way does lie in acceptance of not being disturbed by ones suffering.   It is the way of the heart, with suffering lessened when your mind is not trying to tame a wild bull that after all is just a concept.    

The Eight Consciousnesses

by LittleKnownMystic

We just finished up a study group focusing on the book Understanding Our Mind  by Thich Nhat Hahn. It is based on the teachings of, Vasubandhu, a fourth to fifth century Indian Buddhist associated with the founding of the Yogacara school.  Why is it potentially beneficial to understand the facets of the mind?  From this mystic’s perspective it is helpful in the context of seeing how mindfulness, meditation and our mental states give us clues about how we can see things more clearly and consequently how we can lessen suffering for ourselves and others.  Western psychology has plenty to say about the mind, even before Freud. Currently, a very interesting and promising area related to study of the mind are advances in neuroscience. Among therapists and even the public at large there is a growing appreciation and practice of mindfulness — in this case, a secular practice to relieve stress and anxiety with potential to improve creativity, concentration and development of  more positive state of mind.  The Netflix series, Mindfulness Manual is kind of a cute, Korean-authored, short series on the current state of increasing secular acceptance of mindfulness and meditation for relief of suffering.   But in this mystics case, looking at the mind is also a method that provides glimpses into the ultimate nature of reality and an opportunity to better understand how mindfulness and various meditation practices work.

Vasubandhu proposed that the mind has eight aspects, thus the term “eight consciousnesses” was coined. These are  the base consciousness, called storehouse consciousness and also called alaya, manas, or the energy of the “self,” mind, and the five sense consciousnesses, namely eye, ear, smell, taste and touch.  So in summary, alaya, manas, mind and the five senses.  We don’t have to get to “heady” to have an intuitive feel for these eight consciousnesses.  The base consciousness is the foundation and source of all the other consciousnesses; as such, it would fall into the basket of such western concepts as subconscious but also could be simply viewed as the mystery and “substrate” of existence.  Manas is like ego, and besides serving as a survival mechanism (yes, manas is necessary,) is the instigator of much suffering as we “struggle,” seemingly isolated individuals, through this world.  Mind stems from manas and it seems clear that cognitive and emotional functions are closely related to  the brain, thus a plug for neuroscience.  An important point to note is that mind consciousness is considered a sense consciousness, as we reason with our minds regarding phenomena and in effect sense the world with our minds as well as the physical sense organs.  Just as the mind stems or has its base as manas, the five sense consciousnesses stem or have their base from mind. Intuitively, the brain interprets our world based on physical inputs.  The senses work with various energies of our world.

The yogacara school is also known as the mind only or manifestation only school.  As this mystic has noted many times, whatever is out there, or even one’s own body is “sensed.”  We put a picture together based on our consciousness, based on our limitations of our sense organs.  The true essence, for example, of  a table is an approximation, a model, a simulation.  

So scholars write lengthy books on these eight aspects.  Here are a few fundamental points about each of the consciousnesses.  Store consciousness is called that because it contains, or stores infinite potential of the cosmos.  In verse 11 of Thich Nhat Hahn’s interpretation of Vasubandhu, Hahn states: “Although impermanent and without a separate self, store consciousness contains [has the potential] all phenomena in the cosmos, both conditioned and unconditioned, in the form of seeds.”  Now along comes manas.  Hahn explains the presence of manas by noting that our habit energies, delusions and craving come together and create a tremendous source of energy that condition our actions, speech and thinking.  This energy is called manas.  Here is an important point: Somehow the very apparent existence and life in this realm and we as living beings originate from the fact that a complex energy field clings to a certain aspect of alaya.  In effect it is the manifestation of a separate self, often tied up in knots, living in a big, big world.  While alaya, by definition, can “see” things as they are, manas always sees things only as mere representations and always erroneously because manas is always in dual mode,  craving after the perceiver aspect of alaya, making it into an object and thus manifesting a “self.” 

Here are a few more important points regarding manas.: The activity of manas is thinking, cognizing, measuring, reasoning, grasping and clinging. The objects of mind (thoughts, cognition) do not arise from the external world as the objects of our senses do.  Instead, they come from the working of manas with the seeds in our storehouse consciousness.  Thus, the dilemma of not seeing things as they truly are and the potential therefore for unwholesome states that do not lead to happiness. 

The beauty and the promise of the five sense consciousnesses is that they can see things directly if the mind or manas stays out of the way.  Thus the impetus for mindfulness of the body and phenomenon.  But even when sense consciousness is fully engaged it can only be focused on a very limited scale or aspect of reality.  Think of it as the physical limitation of, e.g. eye consciousness. We can only see a certain spectrum of EM radiation.  Further, we are limited by our location, and the very limits of our brain’s and (now) external computational power’s capacity.  This seemingly limited ability to see takes us to the edge of the Buddhist concept of emptiness, and its flip side, interdependence.  Yet, our very presence in this realm is also very precise, meaningful and, well, here! 

While mind stems from manas, it has the capability of seeing things directly, without coloring them and adding a self.  This takes practice, so enter meditation as well as mindfulness of mental aspects (feeling and formations).  Mind acts as the observer during meditation or mindfulness practice. Mind also can “tame” manas and when we meditate it is possible to set manas aside.

Circling back to storehouse consciousness or alaya.  In his book Vasubandhus Three Natures, Ben Connelly points out that alaya is the “cause” and the rest of the consciousness aspects are the “effect.”  What he is referring to are all the seeds in the storehouse, collectively called karma, that perpetuate the cycle of samsara (cycle of birth and death.)  It is not this mystic’s place or ability to intuitively go much further right now to explain or ponder how karma drives the cycle of perpetual birth and death or how karma actually works from a scientific, technical, perspective.  Let’s just say it is a very cosmic energy dance. It is worthy to note that the cycle originates from alaya, which is way mysterious and that act of liberation or nirvana is the circling back, by the mind, to the roots within alaya, without the attachment of manas.  And none of the eight consciousnesses are permanent. 

We can look at the three natures another time but suffice to say we do have a choice to move outside the lane, peer around a corner and venture into the possibility of something past this normal world which ends up in only one seemingly inevitable way, death and birth.  I’ll admit there are times when the ride is enjoyable.  What is that?

What About Evil?

by LittleKnownMystic

It is the beginning of 2024 and many people have a heavy heart due to an increasingly unstable world situation.   Imagine a person, a civilian, caught up in a war.  At that moment she is engulfed in flames as shrapnel and debris mutilate her body.  Now, imagine the very small, orders of magnitude smaller than the realm of this tragedy.  At that scale there is a lot of space. Things are different.  Sub-atomic particles are dancing everywhere.  Is her consciousness “present” in there? Do subatomic particles know pain and suffering? And what about the war, a type of evil.  Is that present?  Now imagine the relevance of this event  just after the big bang, as the universe begins to expand.  Was evil going along for the ride?  Again, in a few billion years from now imagine the sun becoming a giant dwarf and imagine the whole world burning up with all life vaporized.  Take the same event and look at the whole Cosmos by comparison.  Does this person’s suffering become lost in the vastness? 

This mystic has mentioned two key words that require elaboration.  “Evil” and “suffering.”  We all experiencing suffering.  It is those times of distress where we experience physical or mental  strain and stress, including physical pain and mental “pain.”  Suffering is actually a very broad category both in intensity of discomfort and duration.  From a practical point of view most people’s life path includes attempting to move away from suffering.  Call it seeking comfort, stability, pleasure, love, etc. It’s a biologic thing, as our pets behave the same way.  The trouble begins when we try to create a perfect world where there can never be one and the joy begins when we can let go of that concept.

So we want to be happy.  What about Evil?  Our hypothetical character’s death would inevitably create suffering  for surviving family and friends as well.  Evil, in this case, is a war that did not have to be fought, initiated by individual and collective actions of people.  It’s unnecessary suffering!

One wording or translation of the first pure precept in Soto Zen is “Cease from evil.  Release all self attachment.”  It is a fundamental Buddhist belief that suffering, in general, is caused by grasping or craving, being attached to things and concepts including  the idea of being a permanent separate “self.” 

Evil, from this mystics perspective, is causing suffering for oneself and others (the two are inseparable) by selfish acts of volition.  Logically, good then would imply being selfless and helping others.  We don’t have to create a mental division between self and other.  Evil acts happen because we don’t see the other as our selves.  One group separates itself from another.  One side is right and the other wrong.  One country is stronger and the other weaker and it is their destiny and right to eliminate  or disenfranchise the weaker.  It is the individual and collective grasping or striving for satisfaction and happiness at the expense of another person or group that is the dynamic that creates evil, or unnecessary suffering.  It’s been going on for a very long time.

Moving to a scientific perspective, there is natural selection, or putting it bluntly, the survival of the fittest.   But is that really the whole story? Here is an article from the New Scientist titled How did complex life evolve?  For nearly 2 billion years of earth history organic life consisted of a variety of very simple unicellular organisms called prokaryotes.  Then, for reasons unknown, perhaps a freak accident, one cell invaded another one.  Here is the quote from  the article:

“So what happened? The critical event appears to have occurred about 2 billion years ago, when one simple cell somehow ended up inside another. The identity of the host cell isn’t clear, but we know it engulfed a bacterium, which began to live and divide within it, like a squatter. The two somehow found a way to live together amicably, and eventually formed a symbiotic relationship called endosymbiosis.”

Who was the “fittest?”  The Engulfer or the engulfed?  Now, humans write words and “engulfed” could be a neutral term but if some alien organism engulfed us, or gobbled us up, we might considered that an evil act.  Intent plays in here as well.  This mystic likes the way that this hypothesized event turned out, resulting in symbiosis, essentially cooperation.  It says something about sentient beings and also dulls the “right and wrong” or  Judeo Christian good vs. evil paradigm.   And it provides a clue about the ultimate nature of reality. 

In this piece from  the Lion’s Roar, everything is buddha nature, we are taught that our fundamental nature is non-dual and beyond good and evil.  The non-dual has been called God, even by some Buddhist scholars, and that is fine.  But this still does not resolve the fundamental matter. While some great souls can be heroes, others start wars.  My mind can become tangled reflecting on those suffering currently or remembering that during World War II 60 million people perished.  In that war, the decisions made by the leaders of the Axis powers, in their delusion, eventually lead to infliction of great pain on others and their own people as well.  Both sides, Axis and Allies, had so much hate for each other and celebrated with great joy, when victorious in a battle.   Even if the “good” side won the war, we are far from a world at peace currently.  Evil and wars start with ideas of separateness. 

A sudden ray of sunshine through the Pacific Northwest mist and the ineffable feeling that beauty induces, suggests a fundamental reality beyond pain and suffering but also implies a paradox and a sort of obligation to delve further into the mystery of existence, both the beautiful and the ugly.   So in the end, evil is part of Buddha nature if “everything” is Buddha nature.  Suffering is not glossed over and Joy is not forgotten.  Keep asking questions!  Is a single person’s suffering from an evil act relevant in ultimate scales of time and space? We don’t have much of a handle on what “everything” really is, nor can we control others.  But we do have a choice to be less selfish, level headed, authentic and helpful.  This matters.  Meditation and spiritual practice can move us toward that direction.  The second and third pure precepts in Soto Zen say “Do good for others” and “Do only good.”  The kind of world we live in is reflected in the individual and collective actions of its inhabitants and the individual and collective actions of its inhabitants to some extent determines the kind of world they live in. So if you ask this mystic, is that person’s suffering relevant in all scales and dimensions, I’d answer with a resounding yes!  Also, all that space and time and cosmology leave out Love.  What is that? Here is a perspective from

Shantideva:

                                                          When you look at others think

                                                          That it will be through them

                                                          That you will come to Buddhahood.

                                                          So look on them with frank and loving hearts

A Leap of Faith

by LittleKnownMystic

OK, all mystical experience  and “true reality” is indicated to be beyond words and in the realm of the non-dual.  As we live in a realm of cause and effect that inevitably will knock us on our butt if we ignore the natural laws, ultimately,  it is a leap of faith to stay true to the spiritual path — only because this world seems so real!   Thich Nhat Hahn, in his book on Buddhist psychology, Understanding the Mind, describes a part of consciousness called manas, which roughly is equivalent to Freud’s ego.  Manas thinks, cognizes,  measures,  reasons and also  grasps and clings.  It also linked to the primitive brain whose job is to guard against and react automatically  to anything that might  harm the organism. It operates in the realm of duality — me and you, here and there, mine and not mine.  Manas is an essential component  for physical survival of human beings within the dimension we live in.  In fact, the mystery and irony of this apparent dissonant  and seemingly  diametric situation is that  it’s the way it is supposed to be.  The world is real for manas!  Buddhist teachings go on to say that the way manas views things is not quite accurate, in the big picture, as it always views things in terms of a self and other.  Now, we could go wonky and take the interpretation from the mind only school that literally nothing exists outside of our minds, but this mystic does not believe that this kind of conceptualization is particularly helpful in solving the great matter as it it can be an isolating and lonely  viewpoint taking the breath out of being alive.

What is important is the intersection between the perceived known world, as we individually and collectively “see” it and the world (all phenomenon or dharmas) as it actually is.  If we are to accept that the way we conventionally see and react to the world is flawed and leads to a lot of trouble for ourselves, others, countries and the planet then we have to come to resolve the consequences of what the fact implies.   This could lead to a spiritual or existential crises, but only if there is no way forward.  The way through it is to open up and embrace all things, to drop old schemas and attachments, to not be fooled by good, bad and indifferent labeling (to be aware when we do this) and then investigate what is really there…  The methods taught in Buddhism and other spiritual practices emphasize going beyond thinking.  Thinking, while a very essential and signature sensing mechanism for humans,  is also biased in that it keeps a separation between subject and object and often paints distortions from the way something actually is.  We are specifically talking about tools that emphasize meditation, mindfulness and embracing the impermanent and non-self aspects of our world.  Additionally, we strive to behave ethically and morally using our volition to be a positive force. 

But how can “one” directly experience reality? Take for example the haptic perception or touch system.   While we think of touch as just touch, it is a lot more complicated than that, involving pressure, temperature and vibration.  Our bodies, our skin, are embedded with multiple kinds of receptors, which in turn send signals along various neurological pathways to the brain.  This is illustrated in an interesting intro article on the physics of the haptic system.  It is a scientific reality that the human sensory system is sophisticated and highly evolved.  Within our realm of functioning there is a complex interplay between organism and environment.  In the end, translation of vibration or pressure or temperature by the brain into a picture or model of “what is out there” is simply not the same as what is out there.  But the thing that makes this Ok is that the essential nature of everything is empty of a sole and separate self.  The wind is caused by many factors.  Gas molecules hit the skin and the skin with its sensors sends an -electric-chemical signal to the brain where we “feel” the wind.  All of this is translation of energy and interdependence, a dance of many things, external and internal if you will, interacting to form a thing called the wind that is felt and seen.  In the end it is not out there or in there or in between, but is just the thing in itself and there is less of a need for a self in the middle when seen in this way.

 Mumonkan Case 29 The Sixth Patriarch’s “Your Mind Moves”                
 
The wind was flapping a temple flag, and two monks started an argument.
One said the flag flapped, the other said the wind flapped;
they argued back and forth but could not reach a conclusion.
The Sixth Patriarch said, “It is not the wind that flaps, it is not the flag that flaps; it is your mind that flaps.”
The two monks were awe-struck.

Questions Which Tend not to Edification

by LittleKnownMystic

In this mystic’s very first blog post I expressed a burning desire to know the great mysteries of the Universe and beyond, implying that this may not be possible in the traditional sense of a person who attains knowledge.  Put it another way: if all the phenomena of existence were to suddenly appear in your consciousness, in your “head,” you think the light bulb might blow?   Sounds a bit ridiculous, right?

The Buddha in his lifetime is known for not responding to metaphysical questions such as is the cosmos infinite or not, or what happens after our physical death.  These have been labeled as questions which tend not to edification.  This piece from Loveofallwisdom.com provides summary and perspective as illustrated using the parable of the poison arrow.  The idea is that there is nothing wrong about being curious, but our actions in the here and now define who we are, both individually and collectively.  The parable of the poison arrow, a man asking questions about the origin of the arrow running through him, and refusing to get it pulled out until his questions are answered, has deep implications regarding the human condition.  Could the poison arrow, at times, be a self-inflicted wound?

It seems convincing that there are two separate compartments to our reality in this world (for those unenlightened.) There is the seeming “self” with all its attendant pluses and minuses  and there is the  other, or as Tom Petty called it, “the great wide open.”  This paragraph may seem like a slight detour, but I want to touch on the allure or intoxication of inquiry, spiritual or otherwise.  After all, we are a big-brained and inquiring species.  This mystic would argue that a fundamental pull toward spiritual  practices is a deep yearning to know, to “go home.”  The other fundamental pull is for those suffering greatly who step on the path seeking relief.  Perhaps the right dose of metaphysics for one on a spiritual journey or “the path” is what keeps one interested and motivated.  The same might be said about reading scripture or spiritual books. It seems like “the path” eventually leads toward a fundamental process that de-emphasizes cognition over direct awareness.  This is where those drawn to the path for different reasons find themselves on common ground.  That common ground is the world as it is, messy as it is, and seemingly futile-to-ask-metaphysical-questions as it is.  It is hinted at by the following passage from Dogen’s fascicle, Spring and Autumn:

Dongshan was asked by a monk, “When cold or heat comes, how can we avoid it?”

Dongshan said, “Why don’t you go where there is no cold or heat?”

The monk said, “What do you mean by ‘where there is no cold or heat’?”

Dongshan said, “When it is cold, cold finishes the monk. When it is hot, heat demolishes the monk.”

Dogen concludes: “Even in the secular world the understanding of sun and moon, and how to abide with all things, varies according to sages, learned people, virtuous people, and ignorant people. Don’t think that cold and heat in the buddha way are the same as the cold and heat that ignorant people talk about.  Investigate this directly.”

It seems like the hustle and bustle of “modern” life and advances in science and technology are a very separate “place” from what happens “inside” ourselves and amongst ourselves where strife and discord, if not war, exist.  This will go on as long as there is self and other, subject and object.  One thing this mystic is convinced of is that it is indeed difficult to open up to the world and make a better world if we are lost in our own pain.  All of us (well most of us) have old poison arrows and asking the right questions is key for their removal.  In fact, any spiritual practice has to include attending to the suffering self in order to attend to the suffering of others.  There is a beautiful recorded dharma talk by Sallie Jiko Tisdale entitled The Poison Arrow.  In the talk she covers how our karma and collective karma shapes our world view.  She describes that we often act like a Samurai who accidentally dropped his sword into the water while on a boat and then notched the side of the boat where he dropped it.  Oops! She emphasizes that we all have aspects of our selves that are like “the Samurai without the sword.”  The lost sword might be a lost love, not having the body we wish we would have, or something much darker that has caused pain and loss in the past, or is continuing to do so in the present.  Making peace with the present by asking the right questions and realizing that you may never have that sword again is a key. I leave you today with this gatha, from Christina Feldman:

May I rest in not knowing.

May I find ease in stillness.

May I be equally near all things.

Myo’i Dancing on the Far Side of the Moon

by LittleKnownMystic

This little known mystic has been most kindly allowed to have a Zen teacher.  I am now a lay disciple in the Soto Zen lineage.  With that said, I have also been given a dharma name, Myo’i.  The name itself has a translation, with “Myo” meaning mystery, strange, clever and “i” meaning mind, heart, inclination, intention and thought.  It is indeed strange having a new name, albeit used seldom  while at the temple.  The name, like many things in Zen is in part a koan and something that simply merges with practice. 

Probably the most important change in my practice, by having a teacher, is that I feel a personal motivation to stay focused on the practice.  The first suggestion by my teacher was to start looking at how my karma influences my perceptions.  This goes along the lines of Buddhist philosophy regarding reaching to ones roots (the storehouse consciousness).  The link provided explains how everything we perceive is shaped by this ever-flowing body of habits, emotions and thoughts that is the base of our experience.  The exercise  is to investigate emotional reactions developed by delving into those roots that make up what we believe to be the self (a self that is always changing).   Our past actions and ongoing habits continually “sink” into this storehouse consciousness.  Our actions, or karma, then will color and bias how we see and how we react to the world.  By becoming aware of emotions when studying our roots we offer the possibility of recognizing the unwholesome behaviors and habits that can then be replaced with wholesome ones.

Another things lately is that I question, with an openness, all aspects of practice.  Why mediate, why mindfulness, why precepts why investigation of our karma, etc.  What is it that can free us from suffering and lead us to becoming more joyful, compassionate, loving and happy people?  A beautiful book showing how we might open up to these positive states is Boundless Heart by Christina Feldman. 

At my current level of understanding it seems like all practice should resolve into a net effect of being kinder to others.  It might be a bumpy ride but it has to move in that direction.  All the main tools of Zen practice aim to loosen the ties of the frailties (of the view) of being a small isolated “self” in a very large sea.  In her book Feldman writes something very elucidating about the self.  ” In a path of awakening there is no endeavoring to annihilate the self, to improve the self, or to disdain it. There is the profound invitation to liberate our hearts from all fixed views of self.”  Myo’i is dancing on the far side the moon!

New Year’s Musings and a Paraphrase of the Heart Sutra

by LittleKnownMystic

I am not sure if 2022 was that much better than 2021 with respect to tragedies occurring in the World.Here we are, continuing to hurtle through space on this fragile planet.  One could talk about many things to wrap up the year.  Despite all the suffering in the world, this is still, at times, a pretty good place.  I am reminded of the Buddhist middle way and the need to sometimes hold things lightly and to have compassion — for others and ourselves. Besides being mysterious, weird, and oftentimes beautiful, this existence can also be funny and it is good to laugh together with family and friends.  Reflecting on  my practice over the last year, I am not sure how it’s going, despite a meditation, mindfulness and ethics practice, which can bring joy.  When negative emotions or actions arise in ourselves and others we need to remind ourselves that they came from the collective — from each other and our ancestors.  The late Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s writings on dependent origination or as he sometimes calls it, interdependent  co-arising, basically state that nothing in this world exists by itself, and in fact only exists because of everything else. Here is a brief dharma talk by the Master from a Reddit post. Essentially this relates to the Buddhist teaching of emptiness.  Emptiness, sounds so cold, but it just means any thing is simply empty of a sole separate self or nature and, thusly, dependent on everything else. We are not alone, and the whole Universe is a potential ally.  Conversely, our action ripple outwards (and inwards.)

My wife has a down pillow.  It’s her favorite.  After fifty years or so there is not much left of it– just a little soft lump in the pillow case that looks a bit like Sweet Pea’s blanket.  But, each of those escaped feathers is somewhere, in some form, out in this world and eventually may reach the far corners of the universe.  And that pillow came from the far corners of the Universe, as well.  Not to be left out would be the suffering of the geese when their feathers were ripped out. It gets pretty complicated, and oh so connected.

In 2023 I am looking forward to working with a Buddhist teacher, developing more patience and insight and just continuing with what the Zen monks called practice-realization (It’s an everyday affair.)  In the silence of sitting we can face our demons and just be with them and they will eventually become less real and scary.  By sitting and in mindfulness practice, we can embrace our bodies and practice with forms, letting thoughts and emotions pass by like little fleeting clouds. It takes time.  While the world seems like a mess, the result of practice realization literally changes the world through the development of kindness and compassion.  These positive qualities can permeate into our existence and each other. We’re just here for a little while, so let’s do the best with it.

The Heart Sutra is chanted in many Buddhist Services and when group-chanted is a very energizing practice.  The Sutra is a short poem pointing the way to liberation through embodiment of wisdom (prajna paramita, or perfection of wisdom)  that entails freedom from fear, and simply “seeing”  things as they are — deeply practicing emptiness.   While the text is also a teaching, it is more about  pointing to the Way that cannot be explained by words.  A more or less traditional translation of the Sutra can be found HERE.  Below is my paraphrase as I have always felt that the Sutra, while wonderful, can be a bit scary to some (No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no  body no mind.)  Happy New Year, and good health!

The heart is a spiritual warrior, steadfast.The head sways with the breeze.

Listen! With compassion the heart explains , while practicing wisdom —

and seeing the world, of suffering free:

Flower petals drop, one by one.

Is the flower the petal, the stem, the color or center?

Form — a visible shape, a thing as it is, is empty of a separate self.

Yet the non-separate parts make a flower, if but for a little while.

The shape, the color, the texture, the fragrance: form is emptiness and emptiness form.

The Buddha held a flower.  Smile!

Your world, oh you who sways in the breeze, — your, feelings, perceptions, thought-memory and consciousness  are also like this. The flower is not just a separate thing. Where does the flower live if  not in your feelings, perceptions and thought-memories?   You are the flower and vice versa.

Swaying so hard up in a tree, hold on! The past rides on a rusted renegade train;  the future

is a mad orange fool. From white hot to stone cold, take a wild ride to the far side of emptiness. It neither comes, nor goes, is neither perfect or imperfect, and does not get smaller nor bigger.

No attachment, no self, no hiding, no seeking — known like the clear sky.

The clouds travelling by, gently dance on your eyes.

Wind whistles past the bark of the cypress  tree.

Scent of the ocean and taste of salt spray.  Body feels wetness

Were you by the seashore or were those things inside you?

“Your”  eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind depict a picture.

Where is the paint, brush, canvas and painter?

We are chasing mirages, as there is nothing that can be truly held or grasped.

If you know you can’t touch it or grasp it or have it, that “it” will lose its grip and you will be relieved of the sparkling hell– no birth nor death.   Imagine being free of concepts and not clinging to a thing.  See those old spiritual warriors, bodhisattvas.  If they conjure up things, they conjure up causes and conditions, conceive of paths, knowledge and attainment, not to mention write volumes of scripture. But how can there be words, a path, knowledge or attainment when there is no dust on the mirror? Emptiness is just a metaphor.

There is no need to reason or try to acquire,  as both existence and non-existence are part of the mire. All bodhisattvas rely on the transcendental wisdom known as prajna paramita.  Whatever they believed in was just another flavor of delusion, but accepting all things and conditions, with nothing to grasp and ease in ones vision, there is no fear in leaving  behind the world of illusion, thus  Nirvana.   No” I,” “me” or “mine. ” This is saving others and open compassion.

Stand on the border, look across to the other side. Edge a little closer to the holy mystery. All buddhas are beyond space and time and emanate from  prajna paramita and as such are the state of unconditional enlightenment itself.

Know the prajana paramita as your real mother, who won’t let you suffer. When words lose their meaning there will still be a name.  Chant the mother of all mantras and be one with it: “Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.”  (Gone, Gone, gone over, completely gone over, to the other side. So be it!}

Have No Schemes on Becoming a Buddha

by LittleKnownMystic

I am sure that all of us have made the self discovery that sometimes “the thrill of the hunt,” or the expectation, the objectification of our desire is much more satisfying than the perceived result, or the actual result, for that matter. One of the bodhisattva precepts (Do not misuse sexuality) has a commentary that states, “When there is nothing to desire, we follow the way of all buddhas.”

The subject  today is about desire or the concept of gain; how that relates to our perception of who we are, or the common image of a self, an ego, a person, and how this all relates to the process of bodhi, or enlightenment and the path that is really no path.

In my days as an exploration geologist, traveling the hinterlands looking for gold and other valuable commodities, I had what seemed like a concrete and vivid drive to actualize the search to its desired result.  It was s mental attempt to  “conjure” a final product.  Along with that state of action came a whole persona of who I was.  It was this rugged outdoorsy person who drove a 4×4 truck, always hoping for success and disappointed when the samples came back negative. I was the hero my little girls thought I was! So much of my “self” was embedded in my desire.  Who the hell was I anyway?  Nowadays, looking back on my past career, being fully retired, what I have left is the memory of having been a wandering geologist.  The whine of the truck tires is still in the back of my head and dreams about strange geological lands and potential discoveries still comprise a good part of my dream subject bank.  It was a fabrication. And my successes or failures would not have changed the outcome in the sense that any result would have just spawned another series of desires and goals.  So a good part of myself is simply a concept, or where did the time go?

I am not saying that we should just be limp biscuits not desiring anything. In that case we would not eat or drink and simply wither away and die. There is a definite mystery to our existence and our drives.  Biology and evolution require dynamic volition for physical survival, but a constant desire for personal gain, at least as full adults, will spawn more consequences, or to put it another way, more karma. This is the ordinary life.  All of us, and I mean it, also have the seed of self discovery, call it spirituality, religiosity, curiosity about existence. Often times that spirituality is diverted or perverted by desires and morphs into likely destructive behaviors, whether they be a drive to become rich or powerful or a succumbing to alcohol or drug addiction.  But when the conditions are right, we find a wholesome framework that appeals to us and we begin walking a directed path, with help from others –thus enter “religion”  or formal spiritual practice, which itself carries a lot of baggage and potential pitfalls.

But what happens when that desire, the drive for personal gain, which on the surface seems to “fullfill the person,” is modified?  Do we still exist? Are we better or worse?  One can argue that positive mental states are ultimately selfless, like Love, compassion, equanimity, lightness, and pliancy, to name a few of the beautiful mental states or factors listed in the buddhist study of Abhidharma. These states are developed by practice, and transform our unwholesomeness, including desires, into a “happier” state of consciousness that not only makes our selves feel good, but helps others.  And yes, we really hate to hate and hate to be hated.  It feels bad, and does not have to be that way.

In the Platform Sutra, Huineng, the sixth Chinese buddhist patriarch,  explains that being a person is to be attached to form and being a buddha is not being  attached to form.  We are told in the Mahayana tradition that all people have buddha nature.  There is not much difference between the ordinary life and being a buddha, the difference  being transformation of desire or attachment to non-attachment. It is then desire itself, that is both the problem and the solution.

So, does this sound boring? And perhaps really it’s just better to hang at the beach under a jalapa and sip a margarita? For those who have watched the Netflix series The Good Place (spoiler alert!), in the very end, when the protagonists of the plot have experienced every desire they can contrive in their “designer heaven” they all choose to leave, since it is time to essentially dissolve back into the fabric of the Universe. That “dissolving” into the fabric of the Universe is from the perspective of form, our conventional human condition, and no one really knows and can say what is on the other side.

One thing I will say, especially in this very troubled time for our planet — especially in context of the recent shooting massacres and the war in Ukraine; we have the power to incrementally make changes that can stop shootings and wars.  These horrible events did not happen overnight.  They are a conjunction in time and space based on a series of past myriad, interacting, events associated with negative mental states and harmful actions. The reason that all humans are special is that at this very moment we have the potential to pause, and say the right thing to someone, or just listen, and just be plain kind. That is being a buddha, and the ramifications for a positive future lie in that.  Have no schemes on being a buddha, you are one.