Simple Intimacy

heavy snow

settling

on the landscape

listen

stillness

silence

peace

each breath

as if an act of caring

nurturing

based on Bill Morgan's June 4, 2020 guided meditation:
https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/daily-sit/

watershedwooddesigns.ca

For Kate #2

          One old man 

          with a runny nose, 

          aches & pains all over 

          feeling the fleeting preciousness of time 

          as a friend hovers at the threshold of mystery

          May you feel safe

          May you feel happy

          May you feel whole

          May you be at ease ...

Self, Ego and Selflessness

     "... the end of polarities is the completion of all skillful means, all practices, and all methods that were used to surmount ignorance. When ignorance is no longer pitted against wisdom, there is nonreferenced ease. ... We have to extract the 'me' from our salvation and prohibit identification with the self's return. Many people can understand selflessness; few can keep the self from meddling its way back in. This is not accomplished by forcing but through understanding. To understand exactly what the self is is to end the self. Once understood, it assumes its rightful place in our functional lives but never again assumes a place of power and authority. It takes just one polarizing moment that has gone undetected for self-centered living to resume."

       Rodney Smith. Awakening. A Paradigm Shift of the Heart. Shambhala, Boston, 2014.

"polarities" refers to opposites, the divided mind, boundaries etc
"nonreferenced" means unconditional - independent of causes and conditions
"functional" a healthy ego is described in Western psychology as like a verb (functional) rather than a noun (a solid object)
"polarizing moment" as soon as we identify with one (versus another) view, opinion, preference, the fictional "solid self" is re-created. This imaginary solid "identity" causes suffering.

 

October near Lewis Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada

Qualities of the Body-Mind during Meditation

     "Our minds are bound up with our bodies, so we need to incorporate our bodies into meditative practice. In each session we will do this by first settling the body in its natural state ... 
     Be at ease. Be still. Be vigilant. These three qualities of the body are to be maintained throughout all meditation sessions."


       B. Alan Wallace. "The Attention Revolution. Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind." Wisdom, Boston, 2006.

Tiplea Remus, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

Faith, Life, Big Mind

     "As we go through all this, we begin to have faith in ourselves. Having faith in ourselves doesn’t mean thinking that I can personally handle anything that comes to me: rather, having faith in ourselves involves a process of falling apart and discovering that somehow we come back together again. We learn that having faith in ourselves requires that we have faith in life. Having faith in life doesn’t mean we’ll get what we want or avoid pain: having faith in life involves having faith in something larger than ourselves, though it includes our selves. 

     In Zen, we sometimes call this spacious largeness Big Mind, that mind which is not confined to individual brains but which manifests as the universal, intimate interconnectedness of all things." 

       Rosenbaum R. Zen and the heart of psychotherapy. Brunner/Mazel, Philadelphia, 1998. http://www.zenqigong.com/Psych/

ARClark   www.dpreview.com

Have Patience & Keep on Truckin'!

     Hui-neng, an illiterate laborer, on accidentally hearing the Diamond Sutra, had an immediate profound awakening. He immediately inquired about the Sutra, and sought instruction from Hongren, the 5th patriarch of Chan Buddhism.
     Most of us take a much slower, more circuitous path - gradually (instead of suddenly) awakening. I read about Zen for 30 years, finding it captivating, but really understanding nothing. Then I slowly got into a sitting practice. It's been a very slow 15 year journey so far. Unlike Hui-neng, it's quite remarkable how slow many of us are catching on, and to what extent it happens.
      We're repeatedly advised to focus on the process itself, not the goal - awakening. Doing so becomes easier, the further one is down the path. Impatient zeal gradually transforms into infinite patience, persistence ...
     Initially, our priorities are egocentric AND we're so unaware of our egocentricity, that we would argue vociferously to the contrary.
     Gradually we see present reality with increasing clarity, gradually we let go of self-cherishing, and gradually we open our heart-mind to what is. Clarity and ease come very slowly, but they do come, and it's well worth the effort. Slow and steady wins the race. "Keep on truckin'!"

Studio 21 Art Gallery, Halifax, NS   http://www.studio21.ca/

Insight Dialogue, Interpersonal Understanding, Relational Ease, and the Metta Foundation

     Despite having read & re-read Gregory Kramer's excellent book: “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” (Shambhala, Boston, 2007), and having a long-time interest & trainings in communication skills (non-violent communication, motivational interviewing, appreciative inquiry, solution-focused therapy), I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and depth of experiential practice at the recent Insight Dialogue (ID) retreat just north of Seattle WA (3rd annual Cascadia Retreat, Samish Island).
     Gregory Kramer and Mary Burns were superb facilitators to us 48 participants, roughly half of whom had had previous ID training.
     I can now really appreciate Kramer's writing: "We cannot reasonably expect individualistic philosophies and solitary practices to directly address the pain and confusion that arise between two people or in society at large. Nor can we expect solo endeavors to yield a direct path to the rewards of relational ease and insight. What is required is a fundamentally interpersonal understanding of the path and a meditation practice explicitly evolved to take place in relation with others. This book (  and participation in ID retreats  ) is about such an understanding and such a path." http://metta.org/

Richard Kirsten Daiensai    http://www.kirstengallery.com

Approaching & Staying With vs Avoidance

     “Relaxing, we do not turn away from the tension and conditioning. When we stay with them, it becomes possible to apprehend the silence that underlies reactivity. 
     … when stillness meets reactivity, unbinding occurs. The karmic pattern that generated the reaction is interrupted, cut off from its source. Unfed, the energy drains out of the reaction. In the brain … the neural networks of stress defuse.”
 
       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

João Carlos Nascimento   www.dpreview.com