Why JHANA (meditative absorption)?

Gary Sanders (Against the Stream), Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha (FFlittleD/flickr.com)

 

(tumblr.com/mbe020whlb1rhekwnol)

The Secular Buddhist and Full Contact Enlightenment seem to like the way I expressed my experience of meditative absorption (jhana) or access concentration. And a reader writes in: 

 

"Good article. [I'm] interested to know how [your] "the Buddha mastered them and found they weren't the 'be all, end all,' so why bother?" thinking came [about] for you... being that the Buddha spoke so highly of jhana and that it is the eighth factor of the Eightfold Path?"

There are two reasons why I previously thought the jhanas weren't all that. And I'm not really sure which came first, or if it even matters.
 

1. Most of the Western teachers I sit with seem to just gloss over the jhanas. It's been my perception that they do not place any real importance on the practice [of tranquility and  deep prerequisite "right concentration," or samma samadhi, the eighth factor, defined by the Buddha as the first four absorptions].

2. I just assumed that the jhanas were another practice the Buddha learned, mastered, and discarded (like other extreme ascetic practices) before going to sit under the Bodhi tree.

 

After reading books and listening to talks from Ayya Khema, Leigh Brasington, Daniel Ingram, and others, I have found great, almost indispensable, value in jhana practice, not just to sharpen the quality of my concentration, but really as part of my path.

 
The Buddha and jhana
Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

Deep meditation (mysecretpsychiclife.com)

  

(AlisonRyde/flickr.com)

Having edited the article, I have a different explanation. Siddhartha, who only became "the Buddha" after opening himself to the blissful absorptions, had NOT mastered them. He had rushed through them precisely without gaining mastery or lingering in the supersensual bliss and eventual equanimity they offer. One can move through them rather rapidly like a stone skipping on the surface of a very deep lake.
 

This explanation, which is not my own but that of advanced jhana masters like Ven. Dhammadipa and his teacher, the foremost living expert on Buddhist meditation, Pa Auk Sayadaw, resolves a historical problem.

That problem is understanding why Siddhartha's experience under the Bodhi tree makes it sound as if jhana were a new concept when he must have experienced the jhanas to some degree -- however lightly -- to have become disappointed with the teachings of his former teachers.
  
After all, those teachers called their highest jhanic attainments "enlightenment" and "nirvana" (moksha or "final liberation").

The worlds those rarefied jhanas lead one to be reborn in have staggeringly long average lifespans of as many as 80,000 aeons, or relative "eternities," which is nevertheless nowhere near one actual eternity.
 
Under the Bodhi tree the Bodhisat is said to have remembered a childhood absorption experience. And this led him to wonder why he had been meditating fearing pleasure divorced from sensuality? Problem: Buddhist history is told as if the ascetic Siddhartha had been immersed in the jhanas for years.

After all, had he not already used the first jhana, recalled from childhood, within those other dharmas (the Doctrines and Disciplines of Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta) to get to the equanimous immaterial (fifth through eighth) jhanas?
  
Technically yes, but not if he just zipped through the material (first through fourth) without mastering them or permitting himself to bask in the bliss they offer.

 

"Mastery" is defined in Buddhism as being able to enter them at will, emerge from them as predetermined, and to choose which to enter and abide in. One may, if one wishes, stay absorbed for seven days, and that can be done without breathing. Although Siddhartha climbed to the seventh and eighth jhanas with his teachers, he was striving toward a goal that was not to be found in these attainments. Those teachers taught that those attainments themselves were the goal -- the consummate accomplishment of liberation (moksha).

But the Bodhisat understood -- due to a great deal of past life experience with the absorptions -- that no jhana is bodhi (enlightenment), nirvana (the end of all suffering), or the final solution to the problem of rebirth (samsara). Jhanas are temporary liberations, not final liberation (moksha).
 
All of the jhanas are heavy good-karma and therefore lead to rebirth within samsara, to destinations corresponding to superhuman worlds beyond the Sensual Sphere.
 
Each jhana has three rebirth-levels corresponding to the level of mastery attained. Full mastery of the first jhana, for example, leads to a "heaven" or space plane called Great Divinity (the plane of Maha Brahma), whereas merely touching that jhana leads only to rebirth (if held at the dying moment) to rebirth in "7th Heaven" called Brahma's Retinue, a world of shining ones in space (parisajja brahma akasha deva loka, Large Chart: 31 Planes of Existence, p. 80).

Right Concentration

Moreover, in answer to your question, we are rarely taught that the Buddha "spoke highly of the absorptions." In fact for a few centuries now, Theravada teachers fearfully dissuade practitioners from taking up a serenity practice (samatha). They seem to suffering from the same obstacle Siddhartha faced that blocked his attainment of enlightenment. Who thinks jhanic bliss is a trap?
 
The fear is that meditators will become attached to the joy and cling detrimentally to the conditioned phenomena of meditative experience.

What is more important, samadhi or vipassana, concentration or insight? The question is misleading because suggests a false dichotomy. It is not one OR the other.

There is no mindfulness without concentration, no concentration without mindfulness. And without mindfulness there can be no insight. Mindfulness helps everything, but it is concentration, whether as access or absorption, that purifies and intensifies heart/mind to breakthrough.

What is more important, the top half of the pyramid or the bottom half?

The top half, obviously! Is it "obvious"? No, the top half! What top without a bottom, what height without a foundation, what upstairs access without a firm downstairs? There is no elevated part without a supporting foundation part, except in the abstract. In practice, no one gets to liberating-insight without a necessary and sufficient amount of concentration. The weaker the mind/heart's ability to focus and stay on the object of insight, the less likely any breakthrough is to be expected.

But here's the thing. Getting to the pinnacle of insight does not technically take mastery in absorption, although mastery in absorption certainly makes it much more likely!
 
Without mastery up to the fourth absorption, the sustained practice of Dependent Origination (going backward from current circumstances to their origin rooted in karma and past lives) or seeing existential phenomena such as particles and mind-moments (kalapas and cittas) is very difficult and unsustainable.

 

Can it happen, can it be accomplished? Yes. As unlikely as it is, it can. Access concentration, which is inferior to full absorption even to the weakest level of the first jhana, is enough. This is a technical point; however, it is taken as gospel. No one is allowed a choice. Access is all that is offered nowadays as if absorption were impossible.

Although access is technically enough, it does not mean most meditators will succeed; it only means that at least one person has succeeded.

For example, a person may win a battle against a titan with just a sling and a single stone. But every human who embarks on such a battle would be wise to arm him or herself far better than that!
 
Fear of what jhana might be or lead to with no actual experience of it is like a sinister plot to make sure no one succeeds in reaching stream entry. In a popular misconception of Mahayana, this might seem a welcome thing. Gawd forbid anyone actually enter upon becoming enlightened before having "saved" everyone else.
 

Mara Devaputra, the arch-angelic Cupid/Lucifer figure residing in the highest Sense Sphere world, known as Brahma's Retinue, wants no one to attain stream entry or jhana. For that entails escape from samsara and his influence, be it temporary (by higher rebirth) or permanent (by making an end of rebirth).

Since the jhanas lead to rebirth beyond the Sense Sphere, in the Fine Material and Immaterial Spheres, Mara does not want anyone attaining jhana. Strangely, Mahayana speaks only of six planes of existence when the historical Buddha spoke of 31 such planes, most of them deva worlds of light.
 
The six planes Mahayana teaches are merely those within the Sense Sphere. Why is that?

And within Theravada meditation circles, why are various monastic communities and communities of practitioners still opposing the Buddha's teachings and his urgings that we establish ourselves in at least the first four absorptions? It is one of the bases of success.
 

Parable of the Raft

(Mark Downey/danitadelimont.com)

  
In the "Parable of the Raft," the Buddha says that if one wants to cross over from this shore fraught with dangers over to a further shore beyond danger, one should gather just enough wood and material for a raft and strive diligently with just the strength of one's paddling limbs to get across. That might be enough. That would be viriya, a "virile" effort and exertion. Such outbursts are rarely fruitful. Instead, persistent balanced-effort is the gradual path the Buddha taught. Or one might die trying by such an outburst. One might find that poorly fabricated raft is not nearly enough to cross over the great flood (ogha, samsara). Yes, "enough" concentration is enough, but more is safer and gives one greater certainty that the goal will be reached.
 

(stepoutsidenow)

Sadly, not everyone can attain absorption, so access concentration becomes the only route available. But this is no reason to disparage absorption or dissuade others from following the gradual path the Buddha taught. If someone only has a flimsy foundation, one may try to use it. Or it may be wiser to make it more stable before trying, and failing, and giving up. A human life is an extraordinarily rare opportunity to reach the goal. Maybe that is why some of us were reborn here. It is easier to glimpse nirvana from the lower deva worlds, BUT it is less likely that one will have the impetus to strive for it. Who needs "the end of suffering" when living on a plane without much overt suffering. Obvious suffering in the human world reminds us of the true nature of samsara (that all things are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal) and the great danger inherent in it. Danger? Until stream entry there is an ever-present danger of falling into unfortunate realms (rebirth destinations) for indeterminate periods of time during which one forgets the goal because one is simply trying to survive and endure the misery. Then one neglects the goal when reborn in fortunate superhuman worlds, so that it can be aeons before one gets back to any vision of freedom through enlightenment and nirvana.

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Not Quite Nirvana: A Skeptic's Journey

Bill Williams (HartfordFAVS.com); Rachel Neumann (notquitenirvana.com); KPFK

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches: "Seek in the present moment" (Not Quite Nirvana).

 

Not Quite Nirvana is Rachel Neumann’s folksy account of her gradual embrace of Buddhist teachings, along with anecdotes of her dealings with Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, the famous Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk and peace activist.

• Rachel Neumann live in Los Angeles, Jan. 3, 2013
• Author has advice for Zen skeptics (SantCruz.com)

One of her greatest challenges was learning to accept the truth of aging and death. Like many people, she lived with the illusion that aging, illness, and death are events that happen to other people.

 

“Then, within a few months of turning 40, I got in a bad bicycle accident and tore up my shoulder,” she writes. “I got robbed, got pneumonia, got mostly better, cracked a rib… got bronchitis… got shingles, and lost a relatively young friend to lung cancer. Not only that, but every bone and muscle in my body felt like it had stopped working properly.”

 

Neumann now believes that “death stays mostly hidden in U.S. society....Perhaps if death [were] as acknowledged and visible as birth, awareness and acceptance of it would become more commonplace.”

Author, center, with daughters (dieselbookstore.com)

Thich Nhat Hanh often writes and speaks about “no birth, no death,” meaning that we existed in our parents and prior generations long before we were born, and will continue to exist in our children and in the many people we have influenced while alive.

 

When Neumann began work at Parallax Press in Berkeley, California, she was told that the staff gathered to meditate for 15 minutes at the start of each workday. She found the practice close to unbearable. “I would feel myself getting older, wasting my life just sitting there like a blob,” she writes in her light-hearted style.

 

But she gradually saw the value of stopping and meditating. She and her husband began pausing before dinner with their daughters, Plum, age 4, and Luna, age 9, for a brief meditation. More

ON BEHALF OF NATURE - For her newest evening-length work, Meredith Monk offers a poetic meditation on the environment. Using her highly acclaimed 2012 composition Realm Variations for vocalists and instrumentalists as a point of departure, she employs...different musical realms.
 
Within this world, Monk evokes the Buddhist notion of the existence of different realm categories -- the idea of joining heaven [akasha-deva loka] and earth [manussa loka] by way of human beings.
 
Drawing additional inspiration from writers and researchers who have sounded the alarm on the precarious state of our global ecology, Monk and her acclaimed Vocal Ensemble create a liminal space where human, natural and spiritual elements are woven into a delicate whole, in order to illuminate the interconnection and interdependency of us all.

• Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble: On Behalf of Nature
• Fri, Jan 18/Sat, Jan 19/Sun, Jan 20 (Freud Playhouse, UCLA) 

GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH (Back to Back Theatre) is poignant, beautiful, disarming, and full of vulnerability and sly transparency.

 

The story begins with the [Indian] elephant-headed god Ganesh traveling through Nazi Germany to reclaim the swastika, an ancient Vedic/Hindu symbol. As this intrepid hero embarks on his journey a second narrative is revealed: the actors themselves begin to feel the weighty responsibility of storytellers and question the ethics of cultural appropriation. 

 

Cleverly interwoven in the play’s design is the story of a young man inspired to create a play about Ganesh, "the god of overcoming obstacles."

• Ganesh Versus the Third Reich
• Thu, Jan 24/Fri, Jan 25/Sat, Jan 26/Sun, Jan 27

• CAP UCLA EVENTS
• ART IN ACTION EVENTS
• VISITING EVENTS
• Rachel Neumann at Bookshop Santa Cruz
• BOOK REVIEW (Spirituality and Practice)

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Obama Karma by Russell Razzaque.

Greetings, friends and soon-to-be friends!! It has not been my intention to have been away for so long, but some trying times engulfed my wife and I this summer, which kept me away. Things are improving now and much better, so I am officially back!!

I was recently sent an interesting book titled, "Obama Karma: Lessons on Living Inspired by the 44th President" by Russell Razzaque. I don't normally talk politics on here (I have a separate blog for that) but this book intrigues me.

I voted for President Obama in 2008, but what I admire about him most isn't his politics necessarily, though many I do support. I admire him greatly for being calm under pressure, ability to listen and for his poise. Those are qualities that I can connect to from my Buddhist practice. Irregardless of his political beliefs, he is a wonderful example on how to calming deal with challenges in life, which is something I lack at times.

Mr. Obama is Christian, but he has qualities of a Buddhist who has experience with mindfulness. He seems to approach issues with an open-mind, willing to listen to other viewpoints before sharing his personal opinions. This speaks of a natural ability to practice "right speech" which hinges upon being able to listen, and truly listen, which means not just waiting for your turn to speak again. It means being mindful enough to truly absorb the intention behind each word, rather than just the words themselves. If we are listening but get caught up in our own thoughts at the same time then we miss vital pieces of information that could be gleaned from body language and intentions behind words. Being able to perceive these other signals can only come when we are truly present and aware of our partner in discussion.

This are some of but a few thoughts and lessons I learned from reading the book, "Obama Karma." The book also includes practical exercises on how we can ingrain similar traits into our personal lives. It's a book that straddles the political and spiritual without drowning in the overly political. It's a nice, short, read but deep with insights. I'd really recommend it. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. A good gift idea for your political friends, Obama supporters or just people looking for lessons on how to be more mindful in political discussions.

Bowing,
-James

~I bow to the Buddha within all~

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The "only" way to enlightenment?

GROWING UP MARA (2) with Mara Schaeffer and Dharmachari Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

"IGNORANCE CHEERFULLY RETURNED IF NOT COMPLETELY ENLIGHTENED"

 
MARA: I insist that different traditions have somewhat different visions of "enlightenment" -- referencing Alan Watts, Joseph Goldstein, Adyashanti, [B. Alan Wallace, etc.].

  

Yes, Rodney, we can all just get along.

SEVEN: Yes! That's kind of the problem. The historical Buddha meant something very specific. But various Buddhist schools use the same word to describe altogether different things.
   
And of course other religions and movements have different goals though they may think the Buddha's goal was the same, that we are all moving toward the same final goal. We are not. Theravada and Mahayana do not have the same goal, even if it's blurred and assumed to be ultimately the same. Across Buddhist schools (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen, Nicheren, Vipassana, Lamaism, Esoteric, Tantra), the problem becomes one of watering down the historical Buddha's original message. There are other things besides enlightenment -- saving the world, nonduality, samadhi, miracles, healing, world peace, becoming a buddha, teaching, stream entry, getting to heaven, full absorption, a good human rebirth, supporting one's parents... satori. So when we speak of Buddhist "enlightenment" (bodhi), let's be perfectly clear: When would Shakyamuni (the Buddha Gautama) use that term, and when are we using it to describe other wonderful things in beautiful traditions far from what the Buddha described as enlightenment?

Meditators are beset on all sides by hindrances.

MARA: I worry when we as Buddhists insist that there is only one right, true, correct way of experiencing enlightenment, like [some] Christians insisting that they alone are saved and everyone else is hopelessly damned to hell.

  

This can lead to exploitation on many levels. For instance, "My way is right; your way is wrong! = Pay me $1,500 for my way; we take PayPal." It denigrates the gorgeous diversity of spiritual and religious experience existing today. But quality standards are definitely helpful. And I think we've clarified much of what has been mis-written about enlightenment, especially the Buddhist rebound effect in Hinduism. (Or at least we got the self-examination started and the conversation rolling. The Buddha really did have something different to say).

SEVEN: That's true. You're right. Of course different traditions have different definitions. Moreover, they are right in their differing definitions. It leads them to what they call "enlightenment." But are they all talking about the one the Buddha meant, which is not subjective?
  
Once the Buddha was asked by a Brahmin something regarding the ultimate goal, like will everybody get to it, or what percentage will? The Supremely Enlightened One remained nobly silent. But Ananda, concerned that the Buddha's silence not be misconstrued, explained using an analogy:

(Hooper Project)

BRAHMIN: "Will all the world reach enlightenment and liberation, or half, or a third of the world?"
 
The Buddha remained silent.

  
ANANDA (taking the Brahmin aside): Imagine a city surrounded by a flawless and impenetrable wall with a gatekeeper standing guard at its single gate. The wise gatekeeper walks around inspecting the wall and sees that there is not so much as an opening big enough for a very flexible cat to slip through. Being wise the gatekeeper realizes there is no sense in pondering how many people will come into the fortress or when. Nevertheless, one thing is known with certainty: Whoever gets inside the safe fortress will have come through the gate. In just the same way, the Buddha does not contemplate on how many people will or will not reach enlightenment. Yet the Awakened One knows with certainty that anyone who reaches the ultimate goal will have gotten there by traversing the same path he found: abandoning the obstacles to meditative success and gaining liberating-insight by establishing natural mindfulness on these four foundations: body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects.

There's One and Only Way?

MARA: But what about the claim of old English translators of the sutra on the "Four Foundations of Mindfulness" (MN 10 and DN 22)?

"This is the one and the only way for the purification [of the hearts/minds] of beings, for overcoming sorrow and lamentation, for the cessation of physical and mental pain, for attainment of the Noble Paths, and for the realization of nirvana -- that is, the four foundations of mindfulness."

SEVEN: Yes, fortunately modern English translators have since clarified just as the ancient scholars had tried to explain. This is a pivotal discourse, and it has gotten a great deal of extra attention thanks to the rise of the Vipassana (insight meditation) movement almost independent of its Theravada Buddhist roots.

  

The "one and the only way"? Ekayano maggo means that this is the only way which surely leads to the benefits listed. It may mean simply that this is the direct way, that is, leading only to this goal rather than another goal. This path was the one being taught by the Buddha as the sure path, the straight path, the most expedient path. In any case, it is verifiable by one's own experience (DN 22). British scholar Maurice O'C. Walshe clarifies.

 

Buddhaghosa, the great commentator

WALSHE: "[This is] sometimes translated 'the only way' or the 'one and only way' with, on occasion, a slightly triumphalist connotation. DA [Buddhaghosa's commentary to the collection of long discourses] in fact offers a number of possibilities, thus showing that the old commentators were not entirely sure of the exact meaning. Ekaayana can be literally rendered "one-going," which is ambiguous. Nyanamoli has 'a path that goes one way only.' In any case  it should not be confused with the term times found in Buddhist Sanskrit ekayaana 'one vehicle' or 'career'" (Note 626, The Long Discourse of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications).

SEVEN: One could say that there is no other way that it will go if one continuously practices because this way (maggo) leads only to this goal. But the American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi translates the line more simply.

 

BODHI: "This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of nirvana -- namely, the four foundations of mindfulness" (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, MN 10, p. 245).
   

Bhiikkhu Bodhi emerging

Furthermore, according to Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (born Siegmund Feniger), the great German scholar and author, points out that the key phrase in question has the unambiguous contextual meaning in MN 12.37-42 of "a path that goes one way only."

  

And the commentary to the middle length discourses explains the phrase as: "a single path, not a divided path; as a way that has to be walked by oneself alone, without a companion; and as a way that goes to one goal," nirvana. (See more of Bhikkhu Bodhi's explanatory comments in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Note 135, p. 1188).

• Is "Satori" Enlightenment?

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Nirvana for Sale? Popularity of Mindfulness

"Mindfulness" Grows in Popularity - and Profits

If I breathe in and breathe out, I'll be good. But if I sell the Buddha's technique, I'll be great.

   
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP, June 11, 2012) In what's become a daily ritual, Tim Ryan finds a quiet spot, closes his eyes, clears his mind, and tries to tap into the eternal calm. 

   

In Ryan's world, it's a stretch for people to get this relaxed. He's a member of Congress.

• "Mindful Nation" - Buddhist practice for US
  
• Mindfulness gaining medical acceptance

Increasingly, people in settings beyond the serene yoga studio or contemplative nature path are engaging in the practice of mindfulness.
 
[Mindfulness meditation is] a mental technique that dwells on [non-judgmental] breathing, attention to areas of the body, and periods of silence to concentrate on the present [moment] rather than the worries of yesterday and tomorrow. Marines are doing it. Office workers are doing it. Prisoners are doing it.

   

Meditation hall, Forest Refuge (IMS), one of the priciest ways to glimpse nirvana in the US.

   
The technique is drawing tens of thousands to conferences and learning experiences across the nation and world, and studies have shown it to reduce the symptoms of certain diseases and conditions.

   

Ryan has written a book, A Mindful Nation, pushing mindfulness as an elixir that can tone down political divisions in Washington, get American schoolchildren learning better, and return the country to an era of richer personal experience.

   

"You still forget your keys, you still call people by the wrong name, you still stub your toe, but you can train your mind to be more in the present moment," Ryan said.

   

Benefits in stress reduction and improved performance have prompted U.S. corporations including Google, Target, Procter and Gamble, General Mills, Comcast, BASF, Bose, and New Balance to offer mindfulness training and encourage its use at work.

   

The practice's critics, including some psychologists and [non-Buddhist] religious scholars, say the approach is little more than Buddhist meditation repackaged and rebranded for a secular, and often paying, audience.

   

"The commercialization of Buddhism has been happening as long as Buddhism has existed," said Rachelle Scott, an associate professor of religion at the University of Tennessee and author of Nirvana for Sale.... More

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66-Day Meditation Challenge Climax (video)

Aura Vasquez (Against the Stream), Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

Aura (studioajh.com)

HOLLYWOOD, California - Meditating warriors, the 66-Day Meditation Challenge is reaching its climax.
 
Come sit with us, Monday through Friday 7:00 am, Saturday 5:00 pm, Sun 11:00 am and 6:00 pm. How has the challenge impacted your life? (Leave a private comment).

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
  

"When we calm mind and senses, we become conscious of an [illusory] inner self."

"Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated than that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it." - Sylvia Boorstein 
  
"Self-discipline, although difficult, and not always easy while combating negative emotions, should be a defensive measure. At least we will be able to prevent the advent of negative conduct dominated by negative emotion. That is sila, moral ethics. Once we develop this by familiarizing ourselves with it, along with mindfulness and conscientiousness, eventually that pattern and way of life will become a part of our own life." - The 14th Dalai Lama (Live in a Better Way: Reflections on Truth, Love and Happiness)

Wiki Weekly Food for Thought

• The Five Hindrances of the Heart/Mind
• The Seven Factors of Enlightenment 
• The Noble Eightfold Path
• The Four Noble Truths

Dharma Punx Classes
Intro to Meditation 
Meditation and Dharma Talk
Every Wednesday @ 7:30 pm
Saturday Afternoon Meditation and Talk
Every Saturday @ 5:00 pm
Meditation and Dharma Talk
Every Sunday @ 11:00 am
Community Silent Sit and Meditation
Every Sunday @ 6:00 pm
Recollective Awareness Meditation
Every Monday @ 10:00 am
Some Saturdays @ 10:00 am (see calendar)
Silent Morning Sits
Mon through Fri @ 7:00 am-7:45 am
Meditation and Dharma Talk
Every Monday @ 7:30 pm
Noah and Matthew alternate teaching
Dharma Den: Community Meditation
Every Wednesday @ 7:30 pm
The Dharma Test Kitchen
Every Friday @ 7:30 pm
Meditation and Dharma Talk
Every Thursday @ 7:30 pm
   

Creative Advantage

Half-day with Caitriona Reed, June 9, Santa Monica

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The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers.

"The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers," by Donna Quesada is primarily a book that long-time teachers, new teachers and students studying for a teaching job will find helpful. I must say, however, that while there are some helpful Buddhist tips for anyone, they are fairly basic and can be found in greater depth in books that are primarily about Buddhism in general. But, for less ardent students of Buddhism, it might just be the right amount of Dharma mixed with career advice.

This book is really geared toward the teaching community, and how they can use mindfulness techniques to keep teaching fresh for both teacher and student. The book advertises itself as helpful to anyone and while that it's true, you have to read through a lot of specific advice to teachers. Still, I can see how the tips the author gives would be helpful to anyone who feels stuck in a rut with their career.

I get a lot of books and this one wasn't horrible but it wasn't great, either. I'm probably give it a 6 out of 10 rating; one being worst on that scale and ten being best.

~Peace to all beings~

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The Power of Mindfully Chosen Words.

This short clip is for anyone who ever thinks that they are alone and that no one's ever listening or cares about their plight. Despite the gray masses of drones living in a desensitized world of selfishness, there are a precious few who acknowledge the plight of those living in the shadows of an unforgiving, greedy world that has long ago left them behind. A few mindfully chosen words can go a long way toward being the change we want to see in the word; as Gandhi advised. It's not so much how much you say, as it is what you say and how you say it. Some of the most profound words that have radically altered my perception of the world have been short, simple koans from the Buddhist masters.

Knowing what to say has everything to do with being mindful of the world around us. If we are not aware of the conditions around us, and others, in each moment, then obviously it makes it difficult to understand what words the situation calls for!! Being aware allows us to go beyond the obvious and express not just what's going on but how that affects people. The sign stating that the man was blind and needed help didn't explain the entire situation. Thus, when the girl stopped and wrote the new message with mindfulness of the situation, showing people in concrete words, what it means to be blind, the perceptions of the passers-by radically changed. Thus, the power of mindfully chosen words.

~Peace to all beings~

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Ted Williams and his "Golden Voice."

-This is a longer post but it tells a great story of redemption and hope-

When I first came to Buddhism, nine years ago, it really hit me between the eyes and woke me up to a whole other way of viewing the world and navigating through it. It was refreshingly honest to hear a spiritual tradition come right out and admit that, "Life often sucks, but it doesn't have to cause you suffering." Obviously I'm over-stating the first noble truth that suffering is inevitable but it was refreshing to hear after when so many spiritual traditions today try to make life out to be some candy-land world where rainbows shoot out your ass. And, that if you're not constantly, "high on life" that something is wrong with you.

Life has many wonderful, high peaks to enjoy and savor to be sure. However, in America at least, it's a bit taboo to say life is often (but not always) full of suffering. It's considered being a "pessimist." It's not considered "polite" to admit to people when you're having a shitty day. You're supposed to lie when people as you how you're doing. You're supposed to put on a plastic, botox-infused grin and say, "I'm doing great, but I'll get better." Even if you don't mean it. But, thankfully, Buddha laid-out the three other noble truths to show us how to--not, "end suffering" but learn to live with it as a part of life so we aren't constantly feeling over-whelmed and consumed with it.

Well, one of the teachings in Buddhism is that all things are interconnected and that it is through those connections that we find ways to handle the suffering in life with a bit less torment. We don't have to, "go it alone." The Buddhist notion that we are interdependent and interconnected has been given a new incarnation with the internet. It has helped us reach out and connect with people all over the world and help one another navigate the rocks and whirlpools in this raging river of life. This globally interconnected community online, reached out and plunged it's far-reaching arms into the raging maelstrom of the deep, river of suffering and pulled a drowning brother up from the life-crushing undertow--and back onto the shore of hope.

Ted Williams was that man. Who is Ted Williams? No, not the famous baseball player. He was (up until a few days ago) a homeless man in Ohio, USA who had fallen on hard times and began begging for money to start a new life. But, a mindful (aware) journalist (Kevin Joy; an ironic name for an altruistic stranger) from the Columbus Dispatch newspaper stopped and saw the man's sign but said Williams would, "Have to work for his money." According to an article by Christian Red for the New York Daily News. What happened next brings chills of inspiration to my body. Mr. Williams belted out a monologue that one would expect to hear from a radio personality. Out of this raged, tired face came a golden voice for radio:It turns out that he was a voice-over guy for radio back before he became addicted to drugs. He's been drug-free for two years now but needs a job to return to a better life. Well, Williams got his money for the voice-over ditty from the mindful man who stopped to talk to him. But he got so much more than that. Joy filmed this monologue and posted it on the internet, which went viral. People around the world listen to this man's talented voice, and job offers flooded in. Now he is entertaining offers from the National Football League and the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team!! Rod Mead Sperry over at Shambhala Sun informed me that he has since been hired by the Cavaliers.

So, while life sucks a lot of times, the great part is that we have a whole community to help us live through it and help us actually let go of a lot of trying to control things. And, when we let go, we often find a sense of peace, tranquility and acceptance with the way life unfolds. Letting go frees up our mind to be completely aware (mindful) and open to whatever comes, which often means we can see opportunities that might of passed us by when we were focused so much on how miserable we were. It's o.k. to acknowledge that life sucks sometimes; and it's healthy to admit that life isn't always going to be candy land because then we aren't so crushed when the our expectations don't come true. Expectations rarely do. The way of the Buddha is to live life without expectations--with an open heart. It's certainly never easy; and it's easier said than done but it's possible. That's the important thing. It's possible. It's been done before, and Buddha is that example.

Understanding interdependence helps us ride the storm out with others going through the same shit storm; and that makes all the difference. It helps to know you're not alone. Ted Williams let go of trying to force things but didn't give up and his radical acceptance of his situation allowed him to ride out his suffering until help could arrive. What an uplifting story in a modern world that is so full of ugliness.

~Peace to all beings~

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Rocky Mountain Buddhist Hermit.

Growing up at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, (Colorado) spending decades climbing their heights and summer's backpacking into remote, mountain lakes for a week's stay, has been monumental in helping my Dharma practice.

It is also why I am so attracted to the way of the Buddhist hermit who's monastery is the mountain-tops (or forests) and his sangha the wildlife. Nature teaches you patience, paying attention, doing more with less, appreciating what you have and expecting the unexpected. In short -- it teaches you how to live in the present moment.

In the high mountains, (10,000 ft above sea level and higher) circumstances can change faster than a blink of an eye. The altitude changes everything to where you have to be alert at all times to survive. It can be warm, short's weather down in town during the month of August when we go backpacking; yet you still have to pack winter gear. You can be hiking in shorts and sunshine one minute and the next minute find yourself in a driving snowstorm. I have spent more than one August, summer's day held up inside a tent at 11,000 ft. above sea level, gazing out of the tent at a snow storm settling in around the camp site.When backpacking you take a fold-out backpacking stove (seen above, with fuel canister) to cook freeze-dried food, which isn't gourmet but when eaten after hiking up an 11,000 foot mountain, it tastes better than what any five-star chef in Paris could whip up. That's because you appreciate it more after having busted your ass-off and spent all your energy on putting one foot in front of another, slowly, up and up the mountain. It is the best food you've had all year because it is literally the only food you have. You take care not to let one drop hit the ground because each bite is precious for needed calories. Yet, how much food do we waste at home? Each bite of food is savored mindfully like it was the first meal to cross your lips in ages--even the bowls and kettle are licked clean of sustenance. It teaches you to focus on simply eating and enjoying it.

Everything in the mountains must be done with great care and attention to detail, which, again is why it's a great place to practice and live the Dharma. For example, getting a drink of water entails an entire process of purification pumps and water storage bottle balancing. It's not like flipping on the tap at home; but that water is the best water you'll ever taste because of the attention you put into gathering it. And, you see it as a lot more precious than the water you pour out of the tap at home. You find yourself rationing it out throughout the day because if you guzzle it all at lunch, then you have to hike back up to the glacier to pump some more because you don't ever want to be caught out in the wild without water.

Then there is shelter, which takes on a whole other importance when backpacking. Carrying everything you need for a week on your back means you're near-homeless and that makes you cherish your flimsy tent as though it were a palace. It makes you thankful for a warm place to sleep with some cover over-head. And you begin to realize that you don't need a big house let alone a mansion. I guess I relate so much to these hermit monks because I have lived the last two decades preparing for just such a life. One day perhaps, when, (and if) I feel the time is right, I will disappear into the mountains and build my small hut to spend the rest of my days meditating in. Not out of searching for the, "enlightenment treasure chest" but out of letting go of it.

Not to become some fabled "mountain-top guru." In fact, if you try, and come looking for me to be my student, I will shoo you away because there are much better qualified teachers than this crazy-eyed Buddhist. It's about being an anonymous being living out the rest of his days in the natural world--our true home. A home that humans have nearly abandoned for the accouterments and attachments of city life. We need to reclaim that home. I don't think everyone can or should become a mountain hermit but for me, it's in my karma. I have known from a young age that my life would find me living a life of solitude in the mountains at some point.

I will no longer feel attached to the desires of city life; and the choice will be made for me. I'll leave that city life chaos to more capable hands. At that stage of spiritual life, the best place for me would be in nature, where life exists at it's most basic foundation. A good place to leave this world from when the moment arrives.

~Peace to all beings~

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Buddha Kitty.

Countless cultures throughout the dusty pages of history have depicted cats as very mystical, spiritual beings. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I find cats to be good examples of Buddhist concepts. Cats do everything with complete concentration and deliberation. They are totally absorbed with living in the now--living in the present moment. I find this most evident when they stare out the window for long periods of time; just watching the world go about its business. Observing all the movement outside with calm awareness. When the cat observes the birds flitting about in the trees it does so with complete concentration. It focuses purely on that moment; such is mindfulness. In doing so the cat maintains that cool demeanor it is known for and I think we can learn a lot from their relaxed state of being.

Perhaps we should all take some time to just sit and stare out the window at the birds. Doing so helps reduce our suffering because we cultivate a practice of staying centered in the present moment instead of trying to be in three moments at once -- the past, present and future. The more we are simply aware of what's going on presently, rather than trying to be all things, to all people, at all times, the less we will find ourselves mentally and physically exhausted to where we suffer.

Cats also sit calmly when not staring at much of anything; with little fidgeting. Notice, I said little fidgeting because I don't believe in sitting in meditation with too much discomfort. I say that because, while there is something to be learned in observing our mind's reaction to discomfort, it can also cause one to not meditate at all. So, stretching a leg out now and then isn't necessarily "bad."

But back to the cat sitting for the sake of sitting. It is totally absorbed with just being, which is a common piece of advice from teachers when meditating; to just let the present moment we are meditating with to happen, however, that might unfold. Maybe we'll think about something for a minute, and then it passes and we breath in and out. Then we could find ourselves simply listening to the sounds around us and simply enjoying being able to hear. Again, we breath in and out; and the moment passes. Always coming back to the breath to ground us with the present moment.

Then finally, the cat stands up, stretches and returns to other activities. That's another good reminder; to stretch after meditating so we don't fall down when we stand back up from lack of blood circulation in the legs!! Another nice observation I learned from cats is to do your meditation in a warm spot where the sun shines forth from the window!! Ah, but be mindful to not fall asleep in that position!!

Bowing.

PHOTO: Photographer unknown.

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Living the Simple Life: Stories and Teachings of Munindra.

Anagarika Munindra was a Bengali Buddhist master who many (certainly in the west) might not of heard about, and there's a reason for it. He was a very simple yet profound man who didn't seek attention or recognition for his presence of being. Yet the energy that he radiated made him a magnet that seekers of awakening couldn't help but be attracted to. Whenever he went; people followed.

His teaching was not complicated, which in my mind that is the true nature of Buddhadharma. Recently some students of his compiled a book ("Living this Life Fully: Stories and teachings of Munindra") of what it was like to learn from his side and the end result is a true example in living the Dharma. He doesn't just teach you--he shows you.

I get a lot of Dharma books from publishers and there are a fair number that rarely grab my attention immediately. A lot of times I find myself laboriously hacking my way through a dull and scattered book as if I was making my way through the maze-like Ituri rain forest in Congo, Africa. I was pleased, however, to crack open this book to the first page and be greeted with this breath of Dharmic fresh air.

Everything is meditation in this practice, even while eating, drinking, dressing, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking. Whatever you are doing, everything should be done mindfully, dynamically, with totality, completeness, thoroughness, Then it becomes meditation, meaningful, purposeful. It is not thinking but experiencing from moment to moment, living from moment to moment, without clinging, without condemnation, without judging, without evaluating, without comparing, without selecting, without criticizing--choiceless awareness. Meditation is not only sitting; it is a way of living. It should be integrated with your whole life. It is actually an education in how to see, how to hear, how to smell, how to eat, how to drink, how to walk with full awareness. To develop mindfulness is the most important factor in the process of awakening.

James: What else needs to be said of the Dharma? Indeed it is simple if one can be totally absorbed in each moment; whatever that moment might find us doing. This teaching reminds me so much my Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh addresses Dharma practice. A lot of this book mirrors what Nhat Hanh speaks of, so if you like his style then you'll really get a lot out of this book. Another section that resonated with me was Munindra's approach to sectarianism, which is so silly. Sectarianism is like two school boys having a contest to see who can pee the furthest. The Buddha taught one Dharma and that's the approach Munindra takes. As one student said of him, "awareness was awareness, and it was open to anyone." Student Eric Kupers noticed: I didn't notice any sectarianism from him at all, or "you gotta sign up for something" or "you shouldn't sign up for something." It was just very much about living truth of the teachings in the moment in a very down-to-earth way.

James: Such wisdom resonates deeply within my essence because when we are truly absorbed with the present moment, all lines of demarcation between "us and them" fall apart like an structureless cloud revealing a clarity of mind that is as crisp and clear as the blue sky. Munindra understood firmly that no sect, tradition or teacher has a copyright on the present moment. It belongs to none of us, yet is apart of us. As student Robert Sharf remembers, "Basically, it doesn't matter style of practice you're doing. Either you're doing it mindfully or you're not."

This is an excellent book on showing the way to being at one with the freedom of the present moment. So, while formal meditation is very valuable we must learn how to make our meditation mobile. Thus, it infuses our every moment and we can practice anywhere and at anytime. You'll find powerful insights packed into just the first few chapters more than the entire length of a lot of books. It's a must have for a serious Dharma practitioner.

~Peace to all beings~

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Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex.

I was honored to review a copy of Brad Warner's new book titled, Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between. I have yet to finish the book but it's a page turner, eye opener and refreshing expose on the confluence of Buddhism and sexuality. As someone who has long had sexual scars from the upbringing of the religion of my youth; I have long contemplated upon how as a Buddhist I should approach sexuality.

Until this book, most of what I have read about Buddhism and sexuality has come from celibate monks and nuns. These monastics are some of the most enlightened people on Earth yet it is still difficult for me to take sexual advice from someone who has probably never known sexuality in much of any form.

The other obstacle I have had difficulty navigating at times when dealing with sexuality and Buddhism is that it is often intertwined with traditional Asian culture, which sometimes makes it confusing for a western Buddhist (and when I say "western Buddhist" I include westerners of Asian backgrounds that might feel they can relate to their western culture sometimes more than their Asian one. Not that all do, or should. I'm just pointing out that not all "western Buddhists" are white). Anyway, It's not that I find Asian culture inferior in the least. It is a beautiful culture that I admire deeply and happily learn from daily. In fact, in many ways I find much of what Asian culture has to offer to be desperately lacking in western societies like here in America.

Still, when it comes to sexuality it was very helpful (for me) to hear it talked about in western terms, with western references to western pop culture--and from someone of my generation, Brad Warner. It's just the culture that I understand most. Please don't think I assume that only westerners understand sexuality because that's not my intention. I'm simply talking about in the way I understand most--keep that in mind. I don't mean to insult someone, so if you find anything in this post offensive; please forgive my ignorance. Something to note from the book, (I'm not dishing out all the saucy stuff here -- you have to buy the book--sorry) Warner is coming from Zen Buddhism, which sometimes is less rigid about sexuality than perhaps some other sects. In addition, it is Zen from Japan, which Warner reminds us often allows monastics to marry. So, keep that context in mind when deciding if to read it or not.

Also, a quick warning to those who might have "virgin ears" (to throw in a pun) when it comes to sexuality. This book doesn't speak about it in medical terms, and thankfully, so to those of us who aren't doctors. Warner, refreshingly, for me, uses modern terminology and examples that permeate the younger generations today. Yes, it is sometimes makes you blush but since when did sexuality become a subject you could address properly without a little sensual feeling? I adore the monks but when I hear them talk about sexuality it's been so denuded (sorry, another pun) that you can hardly tell if what they're addressing is in fact, sex!! It seems that sexuality is one topic that some Buddhists feel is taboo or unimportant. Notice I said, "some" Buddhists--not all, of course see it this way.

This book reminds me of the old, American, book, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask" that taught a lot of Americans about sexual intimacy. Except that this is the Zen Buddhist, modern punk version!! Warner addresses everything from "Are Zen Buddhists allowed to masturbate? Are they allowed to look at pornography? Is there wiggle room with celibacy? Or, Sex and Karma, Sex and Suffering, Sex and No-Self. As well as, Zen Dating and Marriage Advice. And even talk about "mindful sex!!" Incidentally, I like Warner's take on mindfulness in this book where he says perhaps a better phrase is "being present" as, "When you say, 'I am mindful of (fill in the blank),' you are already creating separation between you and your activities. True mindfulness is when you let go of the idea of mindfulness and just do whatever it is you happen to be doing" (emphasis added by James).

Warner believes as I do that it isn't the sex itself that's a problem but the clinging to sex. Or becoming so attached to sex that you can't enjoy anything else in life. Too often sex gets thrown out at the same time as the desire for it but sex can be engaged in with total awareness of everyone involved and based on the middle-way. His teacher, Gudo Nishijima Roshi rephrases the third precept as, "Do not desire too much" rather than "Do not misuse sexuality." Bodhidharma, the fifth-century Buddhist monk traditionally cited as the founder of the Zen school, said, "There is nothing to grasp. Not giving rise to attachment is the precept of not misusing sexuality."

The last thing I want to address before leaving you swirling with sex and Zen in your mind is that not all of this book is just about sex. It's so much more than that. It's above all a book of how to enjoy sexuality as a Zen Buddhist and do it with doing the least amount of harm as possible to you and others. This is where Right Intention comes in. If your intention toward sexuality is out of love and not pure selfishness then enjoy!! Buddhism isn't just austerity and reverence after all!! Believe it or not, (after seeing some of the dour, serious and painful faces on some American Buddhists in sanghas) Buddhists do allow for fun and happiness!! If someone tells you that Buddhism is no fun at all and nothing but pain then I might recommend you read Brad Warner's book.

That's all I can say because I want you to get the full barrage of Warner's nod to the sensual side of Zen Buddhist life. To give away any more of the saucy bits would be to ruin the fun!! I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor, the ability to not take life too seriously and a sincere desire to better understand sexuality in Zen Buddhism. I give it a 9.5 out of 10--one of my favorite contemporary Buddhists books in a long while.

~Peace to all beings~

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