Monday, March 29, 2021

March 29, 2021

(Submitted by Jim Little)

Empty of Own-Being

The absolute truth of things is that they are empty of own-being; their provisional truth is that
they exist, even though this existence is momentary and fleeting.  The absolute is not the denial of the existence of things; the provisional is not an affirmation of any inherent substance or own-being.  The purpose of meditation practice or investigative insight is to perceive the absolute nature of things while immersed in countless encounters with their provisional appearances.  It is only through this lens of perception that non-clinging works as a tool for liberation. …

 In and of themselves, forms have no own-being (svabhava).  Because the underlying causes and conditions are themselves  in a process of continuous change, the “existence” of appearances/forms is changing accordingly, leading to the insight that “existence” is not a stable phenomenon in time and space.  Hence “existence,” while provisionally functional, has no own-being and should be recognized as such.

(Excerpted from Chapter 1: “The Dharma of Trust in Mind” in Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen, by Mu Soeng)

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Kenny Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died from ALS on March 20, 2021
    • Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died 3/7/2021  
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Les Kaye, who will need to undergo another round of chemotherapy
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery
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Wonderful links/recommendations shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
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Saturday, March 27, 2021

March 27, 2021

How lucky Kabir is, 

that surrounded by all this joy,

He sings inside his own little boat.

His poems amount to one soul meeting another.

These songs are about forgetting dying and loss,

They rise above both coming in and going out.

- Rumi

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Kenny Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died from ALS on March 20, 2021
    • Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died 3/7/2021  
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Les Kaye, who will need to undergo another round of chemotherapy
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links/recommendations shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________


  

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Thursday, March 25, 2021

March 24, 2021

 (Article submitted by Diane Comey)

The causes of mental confusion in the elderly

By Arnaldo Liechtenstein, physician  

Whenever I teach clinical medicine to students in the fourth year of medicine, I ask the following question:  What are the causes of mental confusion in the elderly?  Some offer: "Tumors in the head".  I answer: No! Others suggest: "Early symptoms of Alzheimer's".  I answer again: No! With each rejection of their answers, their responses dry up. And they are even more open-mouthed when I list the three most common causes:

1) uncontrolled diabetes

2) urinary infection

3) dehydration
 
It may sound like a joke, but it isn't.  People over 60 generally stop feeling thirsty and consequently stop drinking fluids. When no one is around to remind them to drink fluids, they quickly dehydrate.  Dehydration is severe and affects the entire body. It may cause abrupt mental confusion, a drop in blood pressure, increased heart palpitations, angina (chest pain), coma and even death. This habit of forgetting to drink fluids begins at age 60, when we have just over 50% of the water we should have in our bodies.  People over 60 have a lower water reserve. This is part of the natural aging process. But there are more complications. Although they are dehydrated, they don't feel like drinking water, because their internal balance mechanisms don't work very well.
 
Conclusion:  People over 60 years old dehydrate easily, not only because they have a smaller water supply, but also because they do not feel the lack of water in the body. Although people over 60 may look healthy, the performance of reactions and chemical functions can damage their entire body. 

So here are two alerts:

1) Get into the habit of drinking liquids.  Liquids include water, juices, teas, coconut water, milk, soups, and water-rich fruits, such as watermelon, melon, peaches and pineapple; orange and tangerine also work. The important thing is that, every two hours, you must drink some liquid. 
2) Alert for family members: constantly offer fluids to people over age 60.  At the same time, observe them. If you realize that they are rejecting liquids and, from one day to the next, they are irritable, breathless or display a lack of attention, these are almost certainly recurrent symptoms of dehydration.
 
Inspired to drink more water now? Send this information out to others!  DO IT NOW! Your friends and family need to know for themselves and help you to be healthier and happier.
 

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Kenny Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died from ALS on March 20, 2021
    • Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died 3/7/2021  
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Les Kaye, who will need to undergo another round of chemotherapy
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links/recommendations shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________


 

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Monday, March 22, 2021

March 22, 2021

 

                                

The miracle 

is not to fly in the air 

or to walk on the water, 

but to walk on the earth. 

- Chinese Proverb

(Submitted by Jim Little)






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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Kenny Merrill, Misha's cousin, who died from ALS on March 20, 2021
    • Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died 3/7/2021  
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Les Kaye, who will need to undergo another round of chemotherapy
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links/recommendations shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
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Sunday, March 21, 2021

March 20, 2021

Refraining from Harm

A dharma talk on 3/8/21 by Misha

Dogen tells a story of a Chinese Zen teacher named ‘Bird’s Nest,’ who was called this because he lived up in a tree: There was a statesman and poet who was a student of Bird’s Nest.  And one time the statesman stood below his tree, called up to him and said, “Looks very precarious and dangerous up there,” and Bird’s Nest said down to him, “Looks very precarious and dangerous down there.

The precariousness and danger of life has never been more obvious than this last year.   Living up in a tree seems easy by comparison…it’s much more dangerous to go about in the world away from trees because it’s seems like it's getting even easier to cause harm and forget about doing good.

What gets in our way of ‘refraining from harm? I always think that Roshi Tenshin Reb Anderson explained it the best in his book on the precepts, ‘Being Upright’:  The fundamental delusion of human beings is the belief that we exist separately and independently from the rest of the universe.  There is the whole universe, a human thinks, plus something—and that something is me.  Once we misunderstand ourselves in this way, it is inevitable that we will be primarily concerned with this isolated, precious self.  We will single-mindedly focus on protecting and promoting our separate, individual welfare.  Ignoring our close connection with all beings, animate and inanimate, we will act selfishly, through greed, hate, and delusion.”

As long as we do not deeply understand our true nature, the nature of emptiness/interbeing, we will continue to suffer from our self-oriented ways. Dogen explains in his essay, 'Refraining from Harm': "Harm is not empty, it is not done; harm is not form, it is not done.  Harm is not not done, it is just not done.” 

Good old Dogen!  He really likes spinning our heads around...but if you understand that our Zen practice is one of non-doing, non-action, non-thinking, then you'll also understand that he is not saying literally that you don’t DO anything, but just that YOU don’t do anything. Evil does not inherently exist: we make it ourselves, and if it isn’t done, then evil doesn’t arise.

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please offer bows in honor of:
    • Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died March 7, 2021 after a series of strokes 
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
    • Roshi Mel Weitsman who died on 1/7/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Mary Kaye, wife of Les Kaye, who is having minor surgery on March 10th
    • Misha's cousin, Kenny, who has been diagnosed with ALS
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who is slowly recovering
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of PT after a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links/recommendations shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
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Monday, March 8, 2021

March 8, 2021

 From Diane Comey: The origin of the term 'Tree hugger'

The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oases amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions.

Photo: The village women of the Chipko movement in the early 70's in the Garhwal Hills of India, protecting the trees from being cut down.

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please offer bows in honor of:
    • Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
    • Roshi Mel Weitsman who died on 1/7/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Mary Kaye, wife of Les Kaye, who is having minor surgery on March 10th
    • Misha's cousin, Kenny, who has been diagnosed with ALS
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who is slowly recovering
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing  chemotherapy treatments  
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of PT after a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, March 6, 2021

March 4, 2021

                                
Vaccine 2
Haiku

Second dose today
Tonight all are well.
Vaccine for all
Encouragement
Same precautions
Lighter step

Gratitude to the Moderna science minds
Infection prevention
All together
The safe way forward.





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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
    • Roshi Mel Weitsman who died on 1/7/21
    • Tim Doherty, Chris Doherty's brother, who died on 1/8/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Misha's cousin, Kenny, who has been diagnosed with ALS
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who is slowly recovering
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is more than halfway through  chemotherapy treatments while at home 
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of PT after a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
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Tuesday, March 2, 2021

March 2, 2021

 

My grandmother once gave me a tip:
In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.
Do what you have to do, but little by little.
Don't think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.
Wash the dishes.
Remove the dust.
Write a letter.
Make a soup.
You see?
You are advancing step by step.

Take a step and stop.
Rest a little.
Praise yourself.
Take another step.
Then another.
You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.
And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

- Elena Mikhalkova

(Submitted by Diane Comey/Photo of Tasha Tudor, illustrator)

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
    • Roshi Mel Weitsman who died on 1/7/21
    • Tim Doherty, Chris Doherty's brother, who died on 1/8/21
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Misha's cousin, Kenny, who has been diagnosed with ALS
    • Shannon's husband, Gil, who is slowly recovering
    • Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is more than halfway through  chemotherapy treatments while at home 
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of PT after a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________

Wonderful links shared by sangha members and friends:
_____________________________________________________________________
Posted by at No comments:
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