Quote from Mother Teresa

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.
Mother Teresa

Quote from Shakyamuni Butsu

When Shakhamuni's time to die was coming, his disciples gathered and asked who would be their teacher when he was gone. This was his answer./

"Be lamps unto yourselves.
Be refuges unto yourselves.
Take yourself no external refuge.
Hold fast to the truth as a lamp.
Hold fast to the truth as a refuge.
Look not for a refuge in anyone besides yourselves.
And those, Ananda, who either now or after I am dead,
Shall be a lamp unto themselves,
Shall betake themselves as no external refuge,
But holding fast to the truth as their lamp,
Holding fast to the truth as their refuge,
Shall not look for refuge to anyone else besides themselves,
It is they who shall reach to the very topmost height;
But they must be anxious to learn."
(Quoted in Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight)

African Proverb

"The path is made by walking"

From 'Peace Pilgrim'

We must walk according to the highest light we have, encountering lovingly those who are out of harmony, and trying to inspire them to a better way. Whenever you bring harmony into any unpeaceful situation, you contribute to the cause of peace. When you do something for world peace, peace among groups, peace among individuals, or your own inner peace, you improve the total peace picture. No action is fruitless.

There is within the hearts of people deep desire for peace on earth, and they would speak for peace if they were not bound by apathy, by ignorance, by fear. It is the job of peacemakers to inspire them from their apathy, to dispel their ignorance with truth, to allay their fear with faith that God's laws work - and work for good....My simple peace message is adequate - really just the message that the way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things...

The Zen Master and the Hot Dog Vendor

The Zen Master goes to the Hot Dog Vendor and says, 'Make me one with everything'. They both laugh...the Zen Master gives the Hot Dog Vendor his money and gets his vegi- dog and waits. The Hot Dog Vendor asks what he is waiting for. The Zen Master says he is waiting for his change...the Hot Dog Vendor replies, 'change comes from within'.

With this statement the Hot Dog Vendor made the Zen Master one with everything.

zen philosophy

Zen is often said to be a philosophy of life. It certainly can be about how we live our lives. But zen is more than a just a philosophy, it's as much about our mind; but it's not about how we think or what we think about; it's about being mindful of everything we do. So, it's more about the doing of things, and to experience our lives.

Experience our lives every moment of every day.

So how do we do this?

At Kanzeonji we just sit. Somehow in just sitting everything else becomes quite clear. I can't tell you how this happens, only that it does. It has been like this and taught like this for thousands of years. Time after time...again and again.

But people don't always just sit. So, we give them something to do. First watch our breath naturally in and out...from there our center becomes known to us. On the in breath our spine stands up and we sit upright. Relax now, on the out breath, vertebra upon vertebra...and just sit. Then stand up on the in breath the same way, living our life breath by breath, heart beat by heart beat, in an upright manner.

"The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart" - Unknown

Quote

"The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart." - Unknown

The Flower Story

In our tradition there is a story we call nengemisho(u) (pick up flower, subtle smile). This story is about the transmission of our tradition from Sakyamuni Butsu to Kasho(u), the second patriarch of Buddhism. Sakyamuni silently held a up a lotus blossom for his disciples. As the others waited for the sermon of Sakyamuni to begin, Kasho smiled. Sakyamuni then recognized him in front of all others as having truely received the tradition, and he was henceforth known as Makakasho.

This transmission was wordless not resting on words or sacred texts, but a transmission outside the scriptures.
Thus was born Fu-Ryu Monji, the tradition of Zen to 'not stand on words and letters (sacred writtings).

This transmission is a direct experience of the individual. A spontaneous realization born of spiritual insight.

Makakasho had stepped through the gateless gate.

quote from william blake

To see the world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour.

Flower

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change ~Buddha

Walking

I think that walking is natural and healthy. With mindful walking we can have an experience that can be found no other way. Zen walking, can be any walking when we are mindful of everything. This 'everything' depends on our consciousness. Everything even includes nothing...the spaces inbetween the individual things. So how many individual things and nothings make everything? The more the merrier, in my opinion. But everything in it's totality is the zen experience.

Zen is often translated as meditation, but I'm not sure that zen is what the English word meditation means. But zen is being quiet and still...zen is living our connection to everything and interacting from this place of being.

We call this Nin-Gen-Kan-Sei (to be a human being...to be a complete human being...some say even, to be a perfect human being)...but isn't being human mean not being perfect? What is it that makes us human? What elements of us are reserved only for humans, and not other animals? But aren't we animals too? All of reality counts.

But zen is also a practice, a practice of being here and now...in this moment. And in this moment quiet and still, these questions fade away and we are left knowing what it is to be human. Sit, Stand, lay down, Walk...be in this moment only, fully, and completely...and know you are...

7 Principles of Zen

The 7 Principles of Zen are:
1. Fukinsei (Asymmetry)
2. Kanso (Simplicity)
3. Koko (Austerity)
4. Shizen (Naturalness)
5. Datsuzoku (Unworldliness)
6. Yugen (Subtlety or Mystery)
7. Seijaku (Silence)

A couple of the kanji used in these is quite interesting. Shi-Zen for instance is made of the kanji for self and to be, or being. Datsu-Zoku is to take off or strip off, and the other is vulgar or common. Sei-Jaku is is quiet and lonely.

Where did these come from? These ideas all eminate from the notion of Mujo (impermanence). Mujo is our realization that everything changes. We truely understand Mujo when we come face to face with our own mortality.

zazen - seated meditation

Although I am 'Zen Man Walking', I am a big believer in zazen (seated mediation). Afterall at Kanzeonji we follow shikantaza (just sitting) style of zen practice. I think it is best to have zazen has the fundamental practice, then from there find ways of extending this practice into our daily lives. Walking Zen can be a method to help us extend our sitting practice into our daily lives. Tai Chi, Yoga, Kyudo, and other similar practices can be a bridge between our walking practice and our daily activities as well.

But walking is so simple, so basic to our human condition of walking upright, that I really really like Walking Zen. There's nothing to learn, just walk. Of course, mindful...upright...walking is especially nice for bringing our sitting practice along with us.

It's healthy; take a walk around the block today...I did.

Walking around the block

One of my Buddhist teachers, is also my kyudo (japanese archery) teacher (Hirokazu Kosaka Sensei). He once told me that the only exercise you need is kyudo, that the movement, done properly, gives us both a resistance exercise with the bow and without the bow all of our chemicals move and our blood flows smoothly. but later I discovered that dispite this pronouncement he takes a daily walk around the block. I decided to copy this example and take a daily walk as well. It didn't take long to see the meditative mind can be used while walking to a great effect both in speed and efficiency of the walk. Though I hadn't started at the Zen Temple yet, I think this is when I became 'The Zen Man Walking'.

Zen is often thought of as just zazen (sitting meditation). It's thought that zen practitioners only sit. Indeed, Shikantaza (just sitting) is the style of Zen we practice at Kanzeonji in Mt. Washington California. But Master Dogen Zenji had told us that the experience of sitting must be experienced in our daily lives. Kinhin helps us do just that. It's a stepping stone from our sitting to our daily lives.

There is a term Gyo(u)ju-Za-Ga (Walking-Sitting-Lying Down). This means that no matter what we are doing we should do it mindfully; in this way we take our mindful sitting to our mindful lives. If we can live mindful lives, perhaps this will also help us live thoughtful lives as well.

Speed and distance

Kinhin (walking around, about: walking meditation; often done between bouts of seated meditation) can be done at a variety of speeds and various lengths of time, but it is always done mindfully. I've been to sesshin ('collecting the mind': intensive trainings) where we began slowly, but then increased the speed till we were almost running, and then decreased the speed until we we arrived back at our cushions to sit some more.

At our zendo in Mt. Washington we always take a slow pace for Kinhin. We are mindful of every change in pressure on our feet, mindful or our breath, and mindful or our heartbeat. Breathe in and step forward....left..... right, breathe out step forward... left.... right. In some zendo we've gone around the room 2 times, or three times; at our zendo we go around only once. We're in tune with eachother but we don't really 'try' to be. We're in tune with our own breath and heartbeat, and this is similar and tied to eveyone else's in the room, so we draw eachother around the room.

Many think the kinhin is a break from the sitting, and I suppose it can be. But more than that we are taking our sitting into walking, and this is practice for taking our sitting into our daily lives. Sitting alone, is never enough....we must interact in the world in a 'sitting' way, in a mindful way.

Of course, there are spiritual, philosophical, and mystical energies at work in Kinhin, but these are best discussed with your roshi when the two of you are ready.

Zen & Walking

There is a great history between Buddhism and Walking. The 'takuhatsu', carrying the bowl or begging rounds, could be up to 3 hours of walking door to door. 'Angya', going on foot or pilgrimages, are a tradition that also goes back to the beginning of Buddhism with the wandering medicants. Some traveled to follow the seasons, others to find another teacher to guide them on their way.

Also, in Zen we have Kinhin (kin = walking about, hin = around). We usually use this to mean the walk around the sitting area between zazen (za= to sit, zen=mediation). But we contrast this with Ruten (Ru=float, ten=circle) but ruten is floating aimlessly from life to life without ever finding the path from this circle of lives.

So Zen walking, though it has no goal, is not aimless.

Once, when I was having some particular trouble with others, I called Sensei for help. He said 'Just let it go'. I told him he must not really understand what I was going through, and explained it to him again. He said 'Just let that go'. I responded but Sensei you must not understand, see this is what is happening and what will happen if that happens. He said, 'oh I see, well, just let that go' and hung up on me.


We talked a few more times. Each time I repeated the current situation he just said, 'Let it go'. He patiently repeated himself a dozen times. Then something clicked, and I did, and the problem resolved itself.

I repeat this to myself now (though I hear his voice) when any issue comes up about anything, 'well, just let that go', and I do. Then, you know, well... it's gone...