Buddha's Path in San Francisco

A BLOCK off Grant Avenue in San Francisco’s Chinatown — beyond the well-worn path tourists take past souvenir shops, restaurants and a dive saloon called the Buddha Bar — begins a historical tour of a more spiritual nature.

Broken Koans and other Zen debris

If you know your Koans, these will give you a good laugh:

"Not Dualistic
Three Zen students came out of a Dharma talk.
'What did you think of Roshi s talk today ' one of them asked. 'When he talked about true and false practice I thought that was kind of dualistic wasn t it '
'Ah ' said the second 'but your even saying that is dualistic itself don t you see '
'Look who s talking ' said the third. 'I m glad I m not dualistic like you guys '"

Buddhism And The Zen Of Punk Rock : NPR Music

"What does punk rock have to do with Buddhism There's a disdain for authority. There s a strong sense that the individual is responsible for herself or for himself says Brad Warner a bonafide punk rocker and ordained Zen master. The former bassist of Ohio-based punk rock band Zero Defex is also the author of two books on the subject Sit Down and Shut Up which promises Punk Rock commentaries on Buddha God truth sex and death and Hardcore Zen which explores Buddhism and punk s overlapping approaches to rebellion."

Western Buddhist Culture

One of the great things that I find about Buddhism is how the common thread of peace, truth and liberation of mind are present in all forms of Buddhism. Vajrayana(Tibetan being one example), Theravada, Mahayana(Zen being one example) are the 3 major schools, though there are many others. The basic principles are the most important thing, that the core teachings to do not change. It does not matter what coat of tradition you flavor it with, in fact, over the centuries, Buddhism has worked its way into the lifestyle of the culture where it sits and does not become the culture.

Its like flavoring water I think. You can have lemon water, coffee, Tea, tonic water or anything in between. As long as the at the basic level, water is the key ingredient and is not diluted too much, we have no problem. I study and follow a Soto Zen tradition, which has taken a most definite Western flare here in the States. However, I see it difficult for many western people to get past the traditions and hang-ups on conceived ideas about bald monks bowing to golden Buddha statues. This is why I think it is important, that we as Westerners find our own path. It is a great opportunity we have to build something new, that threads through the fabric of our culture, much like a yellow string sewn into a black shirt.

Here in America, especially, the teachings of Anatta(emptiness of self) are extremely difficult for many to understand. Where we raise our children based on pride and self worth, breaking down the illusion of self is much more difficult than in many Asian cultures where ego is not as ever present. We drive our big trucks, climb the corporate ladder and revel in our pride. This is obviously a generalization, relative to all other things, but if we can find a new way, using the strengths of what we do have, conceptual understanding and breaking things down to see how they work, maybe we can break through the ignorance of ego......slowly.

My 7 year old son saw the Dalai Lama on the TV a few days ago, pointed at him then pointed at me. I said to him, "He is a Buddhist man, Tibetan, but he is me and you as well. Zen and Tibet, same thing, just different flavor of man" To which he quickly replied, "No! TV! Turn to Blue's Clues!."

"Sweeping Changes" - Zen Under the Skin

Interesting blog post:

"Last week, I listened to audiobooks while cleaning. My earbuds kept falling out while I was cleaning the bathroom, and I was reminded of something I read or heard someone say about listening to dharma tapes while driving. I wish I could remember the source and share it, but it escapes me in the moment. But in a nutshell, it was suggested that when we drive, we could just drive. Maybe it is not the time to listen to anything... maybe it is a gift of time with ourselves where we can be quiet and focus on the wheel beneath our hands and the pedals beneath our feet and the road ahead. As my earbuds kept falling out I thought about this... how I was trying to make cleaning 'not cleaning'"

Tassajara Zen Monks Practice Firefighting

Tassajara monks practice Zen of firefighting

Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer

Thursday, July 10, 2008

(07-09) 19:24 PDT -- Fires snaked through ravines Wednesday in the Ventana Wilderness to within 3 miles of the oldest Soto Zen monastery outside of Asia, forcing the evacuation of firefighters and threatening the only access road.

The historic Tassajara Zen Mountain Center was left in the care of a handful of monks and practitioners who have refused to leave and have been rigorously preparing for nearly three weeks for the oncoming fire.

Some Tassajara staff also decided they could do no more and left, said Capt. Chuck Dickson, an information officer for the Basin Complex Fire.

"They decided that they'd done all they could," Dickson said. "It was time to go."

The flight came as remaining Tassajara staff prepared themselves physically and mentally for fighting the fire directly. They were calm in the face of the latest evacuation order.

"We'll be moving more vigorously than usual," said the abbot, Myôgen Steve Stücky, as he watched staff practice rolling out new hose lines moments after firefighters fled. "And we'll be watching those tendencies to get overexcited. We'll stay calm and alert. We'll be ready."

Even as they stood at the fulcrum of two of California's largest wildfires - the Basin Complex and Indians fires - the staff at Tassajara saw the approaching blaze enriching their practice of Zen.

Indra's Net, a metaphor for the non-dual nature of all

Interesting site discussing Indra's Net (or Indra's Web):

"The Net of Indra is a profound and subtle metaphor for the structure of reality. Imagine a vast net; at each crossing point there is a jewel; each jewel is perfectly clear and reflects all the other jewels in the net, the way two mirrors placed opposite each other will reflect an image ad infinitum. The jewel in this metaphor stands for an individual being, or an individual consciousness, or a cell or an atom. Every jewel is intimately connected with all other jewels in the universe, and a change in one jewel means a change, however slight, in every other jewel."

Chew, Chew, Chew

A little "food for thought" from Seung Sahn:

"Digesting our understanding is very important. It's like a cow eating grass - eat, eat, eat, eat. A cow has two stomachs. The first stomach stores food and takes out the juice; later the cow chews her cud until the food is again swallowed to be digested and become energy. Not everybody digests their understanding in this style. They only eat, eat, eat. Then comes consciousness, questions, computing and thinking, thinking, thinking. Too much understanding. Everybody understands too much but they cannot use their understanding because it is not chewed and digested.

So what am I? Only meditate: what am I? Don't know. Chew, chew, chew. Then your understanding food becomes correct cognition. That is meditation; that is Zen. Complicated mind becomes simple mind."

More Zen Marketing: ZEN Green Tea Liqueur

Finally, we can get drunk on Zen. But please remember, as the website warns: "Enjoy ZEN responsibly". And watch out for that Zen hangover, it's a doozy.

Notes on Contemporary Zen

Some interesting thoughts from Fred Rossini on learning Zen, including this:

"It is fortunate that Zen is not dependent on 'things' as our lives are already cluttered with things."

Tell me about it.

Zen Habits blog

First, I love Zen. I named one of my dogs Zen. I’ve read it, tried it, love its simple philosophy, love the meditation and love the aesthetics.

But I chose Zen Habits as the title of my blog because it describes the philosophy of the blog in a concise way.

This blog is really about setting and achieving goals, and the numerous goals that I want to achieve. But I believe that goals — especially ones that are worth reaching — are ultimately achieved through the building of good habits. Do I want to complete a marathon? Then I must cultivate the habit of running 4-5 times a week. I must cultivate the habit of positive thinking. It also helps to become an early riser, a healthy eater, and a non-smoker, as I’ve done.

These habits are not born overnight. You can’t tell yourself, “Hey, self, I am going to become an early riser, starting tomorrow morning!” Well, you can tell yourself that, but if you think that it’s going to happen so quickly, you are clearly delusional.

No, these habits must be cultivated through daily practice. It is my belief that you must practice a habit, as focused as possible, every day for a month. When I only do it for a week, it doesn’t take hold. But when I’ve done it for a month or longer, it does. And that doesn’t mean that I’m successful each and every day … but the important thing is that I try, and when I fail, I learn from those mistakes.

In addition to the habits, I hope to post Zen-related stuff now and then, just to give me a peaceful feeling and to justify the use of the cool blog name.

Oh, Woah We're Halfway There!

Brad Warner rants about enlightenment:

"Enlightenment is always just over the next hill, available if only you’d just do this one more thing, and do it sincerely, cuz if you don’t do it sincerely it won’t work, but if you have trouble doing it sincerely send me your credit card number and I’ll help you out. That’s the nature of Enlightenment, that it’s just around the next bend. Or maybe the one after that. Or maybe after those three and a bunch of hills. But it’s always off in the distance. Not here.

And it will always be off in the distance because there’s nowhere else it can be. The very definition of Enlightenment might as well be “off in the distance.”"