Gold Star

So I finally took the plunge. 

I went to Dokusan. I asked my teacher to be my teacher. 

It turns out Karen Maezen Miller was right (big surprise). In my first one much insight was given. 

My teacher is great.

One of the things we talked about was joy and pride.

I tend to be very hard on myself and self-critical.

She pointed out how it's not really following the Middle Way to be so self-critical. 

Too much shame is something to be avoided. 

The antidote is Pride. 

Pride is a much maligned concept in the Western world. However, Buddhism teaches that Pride is something we should embrace, in moderation. We should be properly proud of our accomplishments.

My teacher told me that I should give myself a gold star whenever I have made a good choice (like going to Dokusan, finally).

So I intend to think of that when I have made a good choice. It might help to balance out my automatic negativity, a bit.

All in all, it was nothing like I expected and much better than I had hoped.

Gassho.

Master Miao Tsan Returning to Houston

JUTM March Public Events Flier.pdf Download this file

The Ven. Miao Tsan, Abbott of Vairocana Zen Monastery, in Garden Grove CA, and Author of Just Use This Mind, published by Houston-based Bright Sky Press will be returing to the Byaou City for Dharma talks and guided meditations.

I was at his dharmatalk last year at Rice and he was very good. Straight up Zen perspective. Regional variations aside Dogen really did bring C'han to Japan and thus we have what became Soto Zen.

Gassho.

Reflections on Impermanence

Self-identifying as a Zen Buddhists means I'm often asked about Japan.

I long have had a love-hate relationship with the island nation as I really don't care for Japanese pop culture, but I admire and respect it's deep cultural roots and it's vertical integration with Buddhism.

I find most commonality with Zen but it is, by far, not  the most populous sect in Japan. That would fall to Shin or possibly the combined Nicheren schools.

I digress.

Some have said this tragedy is sad. 

I completely agree.

Any loss of life is sad. Any suffering is sad. 

There are millions of senseless deaths every year.

What the earthquake and tsunami do is underscore the impermanence that people like to forget or ignore.

It's strange in a country so tied to Buddhist thought and Practice that there are temples that have stood for 1000 years.

I'm not saying the Japanese aren't seeing this perspective. I'm pretty sure if all the temples around the country were leveled they would rebuild them and they will do the same with the roads and villages and lives that have been leveled by the multiple devastating events.

Send your prayers, Metta meditations, renewal rituals or simply good vibrations to the Japanese.

If you can, donate to the international Red Cross.

Japan will be okay, in time, all things are impermanent, even tragedy and heartache.

Cross-posted @ Houston Belief.

In Gassho.

Is Zen Fraught with Tautologies?

In my book class the other night one of the instructors mentioned that Uchiyama Roshi uses a lot of tautologies.

I thought I knew what that was.  It turns out I was wrong. It think it's possible that I'm splitting hairs here but it seems like phrases like "It is what it is," are not tautologies.

Here's the definition: a statement in which you repeat a word, idea, etc., in a way that is not necessary [count] ▪ “A beginner who has just started” is a tautology.

So free gifts or learning learners or idiotic idiots are all tautologies.

However, phrases are generally not considered tautologies (despite the example from the lovely MEriam Webster's) and, moreover, in further research (read wikipedia), I discovered that a tautology is specifically a rhetorical device where-in the repetition is needless.

Another point for Zen masters don't use tautologies. 

So what are these useful summaries. I know I shouldn't be hung up on naming them. I'm not really I just find language and it's uses interesting.

So maybe these are tautophrases, then??

Willam Safire, in his New York Times column, On Language: Tautophrases, specifically mentions the co-opted  and oft-mentioned Zen phrase It is what it is. At first I dismiss his categorization because he incorrectly assumes that the phrases is dismissive or evasive, which it isn't, when used by Zen practitioners.

Safire goes on to allow that tautophrase, as opposed to a tautology can be used for emphasis. I think in Zen we use it for emphasis but also to point out that seeking intellectual meaning is often pointless when dealing with concepts which are beyond rational thought. 

If you're a language geek, like I obviously am, read the rest of Safire's article here.

Uchiyama Roshi uses tons of these phrases, some of them cribbed from Dogen Zenji or his teacher Sawaki Roshi, known more commonly as Homeless Kodo. 

Here's a few I like:

Zazen is doing Zazen.

Self doing itself by itself

Self making the self out of the self

Self that is is only self

I recommend reading Uchiyama Roshi's book Opening the Hand of Thought, if you haven't. I'll post a full review when I have finished it. 

I'm also going to finally finish reading Ponlop's Rebel Buddha soon, I swear. :P

Gassho.