Friday, July 23, 2021

July 23

July 23

A friend sent these to me...what it said to me was a show of good will in the world. 

Bows, Camille

















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Special bows for today: 

  • Please offer bows for:
    • Rosemary Catherine Scarlett, Angela Scarlett's mother who died on the evening of July 20th, 2021
    • Bill McElhinny, Ruth Sherer's partner who died on May 9, 2021 from cancer (Ruth was a member of ZHS many years ago)
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family dog who died on July 4th, 2021
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who has finished his second round of chemotherapy and slowly recovering his strength
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke

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

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

July 21

 

The Buddha’s Last Instruction -  by Mary Oliver

“Make of yourself a light,”
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first                                    
signal -- a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire --
clearly I'm not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

- Submitted by Jill Kaplan

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please offer bows for:
    • Rosemary Catherine Scarlett, Angela Scarlett's mother who died on the evening of July 20th
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family's dog who died on July 4th
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who is finishing another round of chemotherapy
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke

__________________________________________________________________________


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

Saturday, July 17, 2021

July 17

 

Submitted by Kathleen Dickey:

Leigh Hyams: How Painting Holds Me On The Earth, Writings from a Maverick Painter and Teacher

Creative Expression is available, one way or another, to anyone at every stage of life, in every culture, and it is accessible at any time. We have only to learn how to access it and to use it openly and freely, by overruling conventional, limited ideas about what is acceptable. Giving ourselves permission to fly with paint, with dance, with music, with poetry or film. Attitude is everything.

The act of drawing and painting renews us. When we step behind the screen of words that papers over so much of our lives, we find a path that can lead us to our real selves. Painting is a process, not an end, and not a product.

Painting, done with the right spirit, keeps us honest, curious, sensitive, and very present in our lives.”

(Persimmon at Filol / watercolor by Misha)

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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family's dog who died on July 4th
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
    • Shanti, Steven and Selora Lane's dog who died on May 2, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who is finishing another round of chemotherapy
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke

__________________________________________________________________________


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

Thursday, July 15, 2021

July 15

Suffering and Empathy

by Jim Little

After my talk Can/Should We Compare Suffering, some interesting conversations and thoughts have arisen
with others.  One such question is how does suffering impact my ability to have empathy for others?

Take for example a mom who has been putting in long hours at work, to then come home to make dinner for the family among the other tasks she has on her plate.  Over dinner she brings up the fact that work has been especially hard and she would like some help around the house with chores.  Going around the table the husband recounts his work-load and tough day, followed on by the son and his trials and tribulation with school, returning back to the mom.  In conveying her difficulty in a request for help, the conversation turned toward a comparison of difficulties as justification for not helping.

It's not hard to imagine this type of conversation in a family or work setting.  In fact, I have been a part of such a conversation where a list of difficulties was used in an appeal for help.  What I find interesting about this anecdote is to consider WHY the other family members compared their suffering instead of seeing a request for help; empathizing with mom and the extra things she has taken on.  More generally, how can our suffering/difficulties make us unavailable to be empathetic toward others?

If we see a house on fire, we rush to it in the event there is a need.  If we see a house with weeds, do we rush with the same zeal to mow them?  There seems to be something inside that informs us that a need is there, but another thing that seeks to apply some value or worth to it.  We might think, "There's nothing more important right now than getting my neighbor out of the burning house!"

  Thinking, "I'm too busy with work to deal with that burning house right now" doesn't seem to fit the situation.  This gets right to the difference between comparing suffering and recognizing need. Of course, most of the time I'm not presented with burning buildings, but more subtle situations where the suffering may not be so clear or obvious.


I think it comes back to habit.  I am wrapped up in my own life, my own issues, my own suffering.  If I'm so habitually preoccupied with my "stuff" I am not really present when those moments, deserving of empathy, arise.  But if I can break that habit, stopping my "story" long enough to consider your situation, empathy, compassion and an appropriate response, can arise.  I see zazen as my practice of pausing that story, widening that gap between the event and my impulsive reaction, to become present in recognizing your suffering, to be empathetic.

What prevents you from being empathetic?  What is your antidote?  How do you work on recognizing need in others?


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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family's dog who died on July 4th
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
    • Shanti, Steven and Selora Lane's dog who died on May 2, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who is finishing another round of chemotherapy
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________


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

Monday, July 12, 2021

July 12

 Remembering Kobun Chino Roshi

 (from an old collection of anecdotes from Jikoji Zen Center): 

“I’m pretty sure—when one sit about 10 or 15 years on and off, without exceptions all become very intuitive and judgement of things are very correct. But social communication is
very poor.  Good example is here.  Sociality is almost zero.  Don’t know how to please people by word.  Always make people mad when I speak.  If I sit with you maybe 5 or 10 more years you will disappointed with me that I had nothing.  And finally I may sit alone.  No one come along.  That feels my way and my fate.  That’s alright.  Sociality is very very bad.  I’m not talking just myself.  Most of you are like that, too…I hear from many different people that people around are very nice people and kind, although most of them are very strange, everyone carry very crazy part.”  





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Special bows for today: 

  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family's dog who died on July 4th
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
    • Shanti, Steven and Selora Lane's dog who died on May 2, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who is finishing another round of chemotherapy
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________


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

Saturday, July 10, 2021

July 10

 The Dalai Lama’s Vow 
(after Shantideva, the Way of the Bodhisattva):

 

With the wish to free all beings

I shall always go for refuge

To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,

Until I reach full enlightenment.

 

Enthused by wisdom and compassion

Today in the Buddha’s presence

I generate the mind for full awakening

For the benefit of all sentient beings.

 

As long as space remains,

As long as sentient beings remain,

Until then, may I too remain

And dispel the miseries of the world


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Special bows for today: 

  • Please offer bows in honor of:
    • Enzo, the Sanchez/Luna family's dog who died on July 4th
  • Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
    • John Witter, Kathleen Dickey's uncle who died on May 11, 2021
    • Shanti, Steven and Selora Lane's dog who died on May 2, 2021
  • Please continue to offer bows of well-being for: 
    • Dainuri Rott who has been operated on for a brain tumor
    • Les Kaye, who is finishing another round of chemotherapy
    • David Shaw, who is continuing the process of recovery from a stroke
__________________________________________________________________________


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