Issue 1 - Beginner`s Mind Zen Center

Learn the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate your self.
Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest. – Dogen
who do you think you are?
CODY FARLEY
From the very start of my practice, I have always loved
chanting. Okay, I confess. I actually enjoy the chanting more than the sitting. What IS sitting, really, but
the thing you do BEFORE the chanting.
And because I loved chanting, it was only a matter
of time before I volunteered for the role of Kokyo
(the person who calls out the chants and dedications
during service).
At Beginner’s Mind Zen Center, we merge the role
of Kokyo with Doan, the person who rings the bells.
Combined, the two roles choreograph the actions of
the temple during service. Bells signal when to bow
or sit. Voice announces which chant is about to begin.
While there are many ways to serve the sangha, this is
one of the key leadership roles.
I’ve been in the Kokyo rotation, I think, since around
2004. While our practice is in many ways supposed to
suspend judgment, I have my own idealized intention
for performing a good service. A good service, for me,
is a consistent bell that vibrates through the zendo and
calls out to every ear. When I think of the morning
bell at Beginner’s Mind, I imagine that it resonates
through every corner:
>> BE AT PEACE! <<
Somewhere in the house, Harvey (Peter and Jane’s cat)
wakes with a smile and watches as the lawn sprinklers
come to life.
photo: bells / photos in this issue (unless otherwise noted) by jon fish
from the 19 january 2014 jukai - lay precepts ceremony
>> IT’S MORNING! <<
For the Kokyo, the voice is also a bell. It is a herald
that calls out, even to the zabutons that are empty.
>> AWAKE! HARNESS YOUR INTENTION! <<<
>> WE ARE BEINGS INSIDE THE MYSTERY. <<
>> WE ARE CONSCIOUS AND JOYFUL! <<
When I am my ideal Kokyo, I am voice. Just voice.
All voice.
But my experience being Kokyo has shifted over the
years. Sometimes, I can’t wait to come to the zendo
and channel just voice. Other times, there is no one
else available to be Kokyo and I sit at the bells with a
sense of dread. I don’t want to call. I want to be called.
I have wondered why this is so, and have found some
clues.
It is the same discomfort I often feel at the office
where I work. As a manager in a large corporation,
continued on page 10
the backward step
[email protected] : David Boyns / Jon Fish
content wrangler: Matt Propper
beginner’s mind zen center
northridge, california / www.beginnersmindzencenter.org
teachers: Yozen Peter Schneider and Myokaku Jane Schneider
president: David Boyns / secretary: Cody Farley
treasurer: Stacy Dickler / co-treasurers: David Boyns and Jon Fish
director: Mark Middlebrook
tanto: David Boyns / ino: Beth Wolfson
articles / issue 1 / 2014
who do you think you are? .................................................................1
leaving no traces / jane schneider .......................................................2
on the precepts and the noble eightfold path / peter schneider................3
some terms and concepts in the heart sutra ........................................7
bodywork for buddhists ................................................................... 11
a welcome ..................................................................................... 12
i take refuge in the three treasures .................................................... 13
branching streams conference ......................................................... 16
tentative provisional definition of “engi” .............................................. 18
how i met the buddha .....................................................................20
leaving no traces (from 13 nov 2010)
JANE SCHNEIDER
In the dictionary, the word ‘comprehension’ is defined
as “understanding, capacity to perceive, ability to
know, ability to grasp with the mind.” ‘Comprehensive’ means “inclusive, a large scope, very extensive.”
To comprehend means to take in everything with
clarity.
Shakyamuni Buddha taught about the Eightfold Path
in the Pali Canon. In one of his talks he discusses the
Eightfold Path, and what that means to follow and
practice. He describes someone who follows the Eightfold Path sincerely, as:
“One who acts with clear comprehension when
going forward and returning;
“who acts with clear comprehension when looking
ahead and looking away;
“who acts with clear comprehension when flexing
and extending his limbs;
“who acts with clear comprehension when wearing
his robes and carrying his outer robe and bowl;
“who acts with clear comprehension when eating,
drinking, chewing, and tasting;
“who acts with clear comprehension when
defecating and urinating, falling asleep, waking up,
talking, and keeping silent.”
And he refers to this quality of person as one who has
“noble restraint of the faculties.” We practice and talk
a lot about what it means to be mindful in practice,
and I think this is a very good description of it, to
have a “noble restraint of their faculties.”
When we talk about what it is to be mindful, we
mean someone who is paying complete attention. Not
someone who is focusing a small amount here, and off
somewhere else, but whatever they do, whatever small
thing it is, whatever big thing it is, their 100% attention is focused on it. When you come here to sit, you
don’t come in to plan things while you’re sitting here;
your intention is to really sit.
This is giving 100% attention; this is to be mindful.
If your mind does start to wander, your intention
keeps bringing it back, many times, over and over.
That intention is what leads to a “noble restraint of the
faculties.”
No matter how much you sit, or how little, every
time you make an effort to bring yourself back again
page 2 • 2014 • issue 1
to where you are and
what you’re doing, in
giving your attention
to the moment, in
following your breath,
you are developing
that important quality,
‘noble restraint,’ in
practice.
We talk a lot about
being mindful in
our activities. Being
mindful is giving
full attention. Being
mindful is being
aware. Being mindful
is being present, body,
speech and mind.
Shakyamuni Buddha
describes someone who
is mindful as being
“one who acts with clear comprehension” to whatever
activity he or she is doing. When we talk about clear
comprehension, we’re talking about being aware of
the whole picture, not just a small part. For example,
when we do kinhin we try to be aware of where everyone is. We don’t only pay attention to our own activity
of walking, but to the entire room. We are aware of
where everyone is, how we may be obstructing or
causing some problem.
Part of being mindful is not just of our own activities,
but to be mindful of everyone’s as well. For example,
if we are mindful walking on the street and pay attention to our feet, and how we cross the street, or we
listen to the traffic, if we are not looking at the traffic
as well, this can be a real problem.
Being mindful does not mean being off in a separate
world away from everything. It means being right in
the center of everything, whatever the center may be.
If the activity is walking in traffic, you not only pay
attention to yourself, but to the traffic conditions,
as well as the people around you. If you are working
with other people, you pay attention to other people,
as well as to yourself. In fact, those other people
become a part of your practice much like the zafu, the
zabuton, the chanting and the incense; they become
your practice.
continued on page 4
on the precepts and the
noble eightfold path
PETER SCHNEIDER
The first time that Shakyamuni Buddha spoke after
his enlightenment was to teach about the Four Noble
Truths. These truths are:
that we suffer,
that there is a cause of our suffering,
that there is relief from our suffering,
and there is a path to relieve our suffering.
In Zen Buddhism, we tend to talk about the first
three of these and might not seem to study the fourth,
the Noble Eightfold Path, so much. You might not
be able to name each of its eight elements and may be
surprised to hear that they contain much that is used
within Mahayana and Soto Zen Buddhism. Indeed,
nearly all of the precepts are there.
The first of these elements is Right View.
The second is Right Intention.
The third is Right Speech.
The fourth is Right Action.
The fifth is Right Livelihood.
The sixth is Right Effort.
The seventh is Right Mindfulness.
And the eighth is Right Concentration.
The first element, Right View, is to come to the
understanding that the Four Noble Truths are indeed
true. You may have known that something wasn’t
right with your life and may have looked for answers
in various places. Maybe you meditated on our own
for some time. Maybe you went to a temple to learn
how to meditate. There are many ways to find yourself taking a first or closer look at Buddhism, but the
end result is that you found it suited you and that
you agreed with what you read or heard about what
Shakyamuni Buddha taught. This is to have Right
View.
The second element of the Eightfold Path is Right
Intention. Right Intention is going beyond merely
thinking that Buddhism is true. It is deciding to do
something about it. This is making a personal commitment to practice – not to your teacher (although
that could be a part of it) or to Buddha – but to yourself, because obviously your practice is about you. You
will be studying your “self.” As you learn about your
self, of course, you
will find out many
things that you
didn’t know.
This decision to
practice in Right
Intention may have
been what Suzuki
Roshi described as
having “way-seeking
mind.” Like with
Right View, it can
appear in many
ways. It could happen to you just by reading something. It could happen to you when sitting for the first
time. It could happen to you when you say to yourself,
“Oh my gosh! I am living my life upside-down!” It
could happen to you when you realize that your true
family is not the family that you were born into, but
the family of buddhas and bodhisattvas.
This is what “home leaving” is about. Leaving home
doesn’t have to mean that one is taking off for somewhere, like monks entering into a monastic temple,
severing their personal relationships. No. Taking
the precepts in itself is also a kind of home leaving.
Taking them is to accept that Buddha is your parent
and you are a baby bodhisattva. From this time on,
you begin to turn your life around. This is what it
means to have Right Intention.
Shakyamuni Buddha distinguished three types of
Right Intention: the Intention of Renunciation; the
Intention of Good Will; and the Intention of Harmlessness. These are where the Three Pure Precepts in
our sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts come from. We refer
to the Intention of Renunciation in two ways in our
ceremonies. One is in the Meal Chant when we say
“to stop all evil.” Another is in our monthly Bodhisattva Ceremony, where we “vow to refrain from doing
what is not good.” What we are actually renouncing
is our desire to be selfish. Desires are generally selfserving. There’s nothing inherently wrong with them;
the problem is that they can be so easily connected by
us to our self.
When you become a Buddhist, you practice with
the precepts early on because they are, paraphrasing
continued on page 5
issue 1 • 2014 • page 3
leaving no traces / continued from page 2
Whatever happens in the world outside the zendo
is also your real practice. Clear comprehension
is being aware of the whole picture, not focusing
on one part and ignoring the rest. Our first step
is to bring ourselves back to immediate body and
mind. Then our faculties, our senses engage us
more clearly as thoughts calm down. Our senses
become alert; we hear, feel, touch, smell and taste.
We become aware of the sounds outside as well
as in the zendo, the feel of clothing, cushions, the
sight of the wall or floor, the touch of our hands,
the smell of incense, of clothing, and so on.
When we spend less time engaging our thoughts,
and more on the activities of the senses, we stop
clinging to thinking mind. In that calmness we are
ready to do shikantaza. Shikantaza means to “just sit”
and let go of whatever thought arises without engaging it. It means to sit without goals. It means sitting
with everything-as-it-is.
In shikantaza body and mind drop off. In shikantaza
we leave no traces. Dropping off body and mind is
sometimes described as like a bird flying in the sky; it
leaves no traces of its activity. Shikantaza can also be
seen as “drawing a line in water with a stick”. It leaves
no traces. Leaving no traces means leaving nothing
behind to stumble over later.
Our practice means facing each moment without
preconceptions. The person you meet is your friend
and not your friend, your spouse and not your spouse,
your child and not your child, your enemy and not
your enemy, your boss and not your boss, your coworker and not your co-worker. Who is the one you
meet? And who is the one who meets that one? Obviously, shikantaza doesn’t only happen on the cushion.
Shikantaza takes time to develop. Much of the time
when sitting, we engage our thoughts to fight off the
distressing situations that emerge. But the more you
sit, the more chance you have to experience a mind
and body quiet enough to “just sit.”
Shikantaza doesn’t happen when we give partial
attention to what we are doing. It means full
comprehension of the moment; it means being aware
of everything present. For example, if we bow in the
zendo to someone but don’t notice what the someone
is doing, we may leave them hanging as we bow either
too fast or too slowly.
page 4 • 2014 • issue 1
Each moment we meet a request. If we are lost in
thought, the request is lost as well, or our interpretation of it depends loosely on the nature of the
thought of the moment. When sitting, we directly
meet “our deepest request” moment by moment. The
request may be to put aside fear, to withstand physical
distress, to calm our thinking, to open to a new experience. On the cushion or not, the request is there, but
easier to recognize when we are not busy with affairs.
Outside the zendo the request may be to listen, to
understand, to stop talking, to pay attention, to take
care of someone, to rest. I say our deepest request
because we are the architects of the moment, and the
request comes from us. Ignoring it is an escape from
ourselves into oblivion, even if only for the moment.
To our good fortune, we can’t escape ourselves
because the next moment a new request arises, and
then another and another. We are persistent. Every
moment is a gold mine if we pay attention.
Being alert to our senses isn’t obsessing about them,
unless we cling to them. In practice, while sitting, or
whatever else we do, we hear and let go, smell and let
go, see and let go, touch and let go, think and let go.
If like or dislike enters the action, unless we let them
go as well, we leave big traces behind to stumble over.
We do indeed cause our own suffering.
I encourage you to practice and to sit. When you
sit, you may just do shikantaza and experience what
“drawing a line in water with a stick” means. You may
sit like a bird “flying in the sky and leave no traces.”
on the precepts and the noble eightfold path / continued from page 3
what Suzuki Roshi said, a picture of our true nature.
The precepts point out to us when we are not following that nature, which is every time we see ourselves
doing something that is not good. By violating the
precepts, we are doing not only something that can
hurt others but violates our own nature. This is the
meaning of “not doing what is not good.”
The Right Intention of Good Will appears in the
second of the Three Pure Precepts in the “vow to do
what is good.” Being disturbed less by our selfishness
(which takes some time), we have a greater tendency
to do what is good. We are not in neutral anymore.
We do things that are positive, not just refrain from
doing things that are not.
The Right Intention of Harmlessness is expressed
in Mahayana Buddhism in our “vow to live for the
benefit of all beings” … “to save all beings.” While
harmlessness means to do no injury to others, positively, it is to help others, and this is what we stress as
bodhisattvas.
The third element of the Eightfold Path is Right
Speech. Here is where we begin to find the Ten Grave
Precepts of the sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. In Right
Speech there are three vows concerning what comes
out of our mouths: “I vow not to lie.” “I vow not to
slander.” “I vow not to praise self at the expense of
others.” While Shakyamuni Buddha divided Right
Speech into four parts, these line up with our precepts
pretty closely. The first section is to abstain from false
speech (this means abstention from any kind of deception). The second is to abstain from slanderous speech.
The third is to abstain from harsh words that offend
or hurt others (which is a little different than our vow
“not to praise self at the expense of others,” though
both emphasize speech that comes “at the expense of
others.”). The one section in Right Speech that is not
in our precepts, “to abstain from idle chatter,” in other
words, not to gossip, we incorporate into the vow not
to slander.
stealing. “Abstaining from sexual misconduct” doesn’t
imply that having desires is wrong, or that sexuality is
wrong, but that misusing it or hurting others through
it certainly is.
The fifth element of the Eightfold Path is Right Livelihood. In Buddha’s time, this was applied to selling
weapons, not dealing in human beings, (that is, not
having something to do with slavery or prostitution),
raising animals for slaughter, not working in meat
production and butchery, and not selling intoxicants
and poisons. One of these was important in the history of Soto Zen. Japan has lots of mountainous
coastline and historically many people could only live
by fishing. There was nothing they could do to avoid
their situation — the government wouldn’t permit
them to move — yet they were not allowed to receive
Buddhist names upon their deaths and so theoretically couldn’t go to the other world. Soto Zen offered
compassion to fisherman and farmers as well by
giving posthumous Buddhist names to be used in that
Buddha world. Nowadays, we can apply Right Livelihood to choosing occupations that would overindulge
our or others’ senses by use of alcohol or drugs. Intoxication can also include indulgence in other things we
consume, and even in our own thinking.
The final three of our Ten Grave Precepts do not come
from the Eightfold Path but from the three poisons
— greed, anger, and delusion — given in the second
of the Four Noble Truths. The precept “I vow not
to be possessive” of anything refers to our feeling of
ownership of what we have, including our occupation
and related social status. In actuality we can’t own
anything, neither our spouse nor our children, our
animals, our house, our car, or our job. We cannot
continued on page 6
The fourth element of the Eightfold Path is Right
Action. Right Action is expressed in our precepts with
the vows: “I vow not to kill.” “I vow not to take what
is not given.” “I vow to refrain from intoxicants.” “I
vow not to misuse sexuality.” These four are readily
understandable. “I vow not to kill” means pledging not to hurt anybody, any sentient beings. “I vow
not to take what is not given,” means to refrain from
issue 1 • 2014 • page 5
on the precepts and the noble eightfold path / continued from page 5
possess anything. Another understanding is that
this precept refers to being stingy with the Dharma.
Rather than being possessive, we should be generous
about giving things away, including the Dharma.
Another precept concerned with the three poisons
is “I vow not to harbor ill will,” which usually gets
expressed in anger. However, the Buddha was not
necessarily recommending that we not be angry. We
get angry, but often we then get angry about being
angry, and we get angry about being angry about
being angry … and finally we are really angry and
want to fight. Rather it is the harboring of ill will, the
holding on to anger that is the problem. In commenting on this precept, Dogen Zenji referred to anger as
“the beautiful clouds in the sky” — not dark clouds,
but beautiful ones. That’s what anger is like. Losing
your temper? Not so terrible. Staying resentful? Not so
good.
The final precept of the Ten Grave Precepts is to “vow
not to disparage the Three Treasures,” to not put
down Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Doubt, along
with laziness and pride, is one of three types of delusion, the third poison. The first three of the sixteen
Bodhisattva Precepts pay homage to the Three Treasures; if we start to criticize these treasures, we are
surely under the power of doubt.
The sixth element of the Eightfold Path is Right
Effort. Practice takes time. Some people may have an
enlightenment experience in the first few years of their
practice. Just because they do does not mean that they
can stop practicing. Making effort is still essential
after that. Right Effort is to continue to go on, despite
the gains, despite the hardships. In fact, in practice
we only need to do two things: start practicing (Right
Attention) and then not stop (Right Effort). That’s it.
But if and when we do stop, we should start again.
Shakyamuni Buddha said that there are four types of
Right Effort: These are with respect to negative thinking and positive thinking. One effort is to “prevent
the arising of unarisen unwholesome states.” This is to
not “allow a negative thought, an unwholesome state,
suffering on your own part, to arise.” However, if a
negative thought comes up, there is no blame if we
see the thought and say, “Oh, that’s a thought,” and
go back to our practice. Noticing a negative thought
appear in our mind and going back to what we were
doing before the thought occurred is an important
part of our practice.
page 6 • 2014 • issue 1
The next type is to “abandon unwholesome states that
have already arisen.” You may get involved in your
selfish negative thoughts. You may find that a single
thought has mushroomed or ballooned on you, but
recognizing this, you must cease letting yourself be
taken along for a ride; you just have to not go on following what is now “them.”
The third is to “arouse wholesome states that have not
arisen,” and that is to recognize and support a positive
thought that comes up in our mind. The last is “to
maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.”
Benevolence, kindness, and honesty are some of the
resulting states that are mentioned.
Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are
the seventh and eighth paths. They are traditionally
seen as the result of having dealt with these first six
practices of the Eightfold Path. I think you can guess
what mindfulness is: it is being aware moment after
moment. Much greater clarity comes from learning to
maintain this. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche said that
he would let his students find out about mindfulness
on their own.
This last element of the Eightfold Path is what
Zen Buddhism stresses, the practice you are doing
by meditating. Exactly what you are doing. Just
concentrating. Concentrating on a Buddhist text.
Concentrating on zazen. Concentrating on one thing.
Concentrating on our breaths. However, true Right
Concentration is very difficult until we have cleared
up our act by stopping making new karma and dealing with our present karma. That is why we must
attend to all the earlier elements of the Noble Eightfold Path.
While I have lined up these eight elements as if they
were stages one after the other, we can be practicing
on any of them at any time. If you have an insight
into the real nature of reality, whether it is far in the
future or today; wisdom will be there. Wisdom is not
caused by thinking; wisdom is knowing. If we think
something out, it may be beautiful or really intelligent, but it is not wisdom. Wisdom is … “you” know
it. Having some wisdom is helpful for teachers, so
they don’t answer us based only upon their thoughts,
but upon their immediate perception of what we have
just said to them.
some terms and concepts
mentioned in the
prajna paramita hrdaya sutra
(heart sutra)
CRAIG PAUP
The Heart Sutra is one of a large group of Prajnaparamita Sutras which may have at some point
consisted of hundreds of texts. Scholars believe that
the oldest of these, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight
Thousand Lines, was written between 100 BCE and
100 CE. Longer versions were later written, ranging up to 100,000 lines as were shorter ones, like the
Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra, ranging down
to The Perfection of Wisdom in a Single Letter (A). Of
all of these, indeed, of all Mahayana Sutras, the Heart
Sutra may be the most popular. One reason that has
been suggested by Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez
Jr. is that since it is short, it is easily memorized and
contains references to the basic categories of Buddhist doctrine, which makes it “a perfect vehicle for
the exposition of (Buddhism).” With this in mind,
here are some simple (ok, not so simple but I tried)
and incomplete explanations of some of the terms and
concepts used in the Heart Sutra.
“GREAT WISDOM BEYOND WISDOM HEART SUTRA”
This title is often translated as The Heart of the
Perfection of Wisdom. The word, “heart” is usually interpreted as essence. The term, “perfection of
wisdom” or “wisdom beyond wisdom” is Prajnaparamita, one of the bodhisattva practices (paramitas
or perfections).1 Prajna is sometimes described as the
culmination of the other paramitas, the Mother of All
Buddhas, and is even personified as a goddess. Paramita is also said to mean “gone beyond” and the term
“great” (maha) is sometimes added so the title can also
be Great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra.
The six paramitas are dana (generosity), sila (morality),
ksanti (forbearance), virya (effort), dhyana (meditation),
and prajna (wisdom or insight). The Ten Stages (Dasabhumika) Sutra describes three further (teaching) perfections:
upaya (skillful means), bala (spiritual power) and jnana
(knowledge).
1
AVALOKITESHVARA BODHISATTVA, WHEN PRACTICING DEEPLY
PRAJNA PARAMITA, SAW CLEARLY THAT ALL FIVE SKANDHAS
ARE EMPTY AND THUS RELIEVED ALL SUFFERING.
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (“Lord Avalokita”) is the
“Enlightening Being Who Hears the Cries of the
World.” A bodhisattva (enlightening being) has vowed
to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
A Great Being Bodhisattva (Mahasattva) like Lord
Avalokita is very far along that path, and hears the
cries of the world with compassion. It is said also that
Lord Avalokita awakened while meditating on sound.
Avalokita looks down to see, not beings, but the
Five Skandhas (bundles, heaps or aggregates) which
constitute the personality and its environment, or,
people and their world. They are rupa (form), the
personality’s exterior world, and its interior world:
vedana (sensation, or feeling), samjna (apperception, or
discrimination), samskara (volition, or mental formations), and vijnana (discernment, or consciousness).
SHARIPUTRA, FORM DOES NOT DIFFER FROM EMPTINESS;
EMPTINESS DOES NOT DIFFER FROM FORM. FORM ITSELF
IS EMPTINESS. EMPTINESS ITSELF IS FORM. SENSATION,
PERCEPTION, FORMATION, AND CONSCIOUSNESS ARE ALSO
LIKE THIS.
Shariputra was one of the historical Buddha
Sakyamuni’s most eminent monks and an Arhat,
a “non-returner,” the highest spiritual attainment
in early Buddhism. An Arhat has seen through the
illusory self and its world, in this case by stripping
down the experience of “being” into its constituent
parts. These parts, or dharmas, were thought by some
early Buddhists to be svabhava, or having inherent
self-nature: the irreducible, fundamental substance of
which everything is made.
This is where these early Mahayana texts, The Prajnaparamita Sutras, made a radical assertion in the
continued on page 8
issue 1 • 2014 • page 7
heart sutra terms and concepts / continued from page 7
conception of emptiness (sunyata) and dependent
origination (pratityasamutpada).
Lord Avalokita explains to Shariputra that while
things that are dependent on causes and conditions,
like people, chariots and furniture, are “empty,” so the
momentary dharmas of which they are constructed
are also “empty.” There is no fundamental substance.
So, the Mahayana view is that while Shariputra and
his school had the right idea, they did not go far
enough with their analysis. The Dharma based on the
Four Noble Truths and the Skandhas introduces emptiness and dependent origination. Now, the “second
turning” of the Dharma goes deeper. By the end of
the Sutra, a “third turning” which is the mantra, has
transcended both the first and the second.
According to this newer version of dependent
origination then, “…there is neither cessation nor
origination, neither annihilation nor the eternal,
neither singularity nor plurality, neither the coming
nor the going (of any dharma)…” (Nagarjuna,
Mulamadhyamakakarika)
SHARIPUTRA, ALL DHARMAS ARE MARKED WITH EMPTINESS.
THEY DO NOT ARISE NOR CEASE, ARE NOT DEFILED NOR PURE,
DO NOT INCREASE NOR DECREASE.
Since the dharmas and emptiness are identical, this
line is essentially a definition of emptiness itself.
In some translations, this paragraph begins: “Here,
Shariputra…” “Here,” form and all the skandhas are
empty, and emptiness is form. “Here” is coursing in
compassionate, transcendental wisdom: Prajnaparamita. “Here” is true Zen practice. “Here” all dharmas
are marked by (have the characteristic of) emptiness.
The Diamond Sutra says: “…bodhisattvas should be
free from all conceptions and develop the mind of
anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (unsurpassed, complete,
perfect enlightenment). They should not rely on sight
to generate this mind. They should not rely on sound,
scent, taste, touch or thought to generate this mind.
They should generate a mind that does not rely on
anything.”
IT FOLLOWS, WITH EMPTINESS, THAT THERE IS NO FORM,
NO SENSATION, NO PERCEPTION, NO FORMATION, NO
CONSCIOUSNESS; NO EYES, NO EARS, NO NOSE, NO TONGUE,
NO BODY, NO MIND; NO SIGHT, NO SOUND, NO SMELL, NO
TASTE, NO TOUCH, NO OBJECT OF MIND; NO REALM OF
SIGHT…NO REALM OF MIND CONSCIOUSNESS; NO IGNORANCE
pigeons on lake rest (photo) / matt propper
NOR EXTINCTION OF IGNORANCE… NO OLD AGE AND DEATH
NOR EXTINCTION OF OLD AGE AND DEATH; NO SUFFERING, NO
CAUSATION, NO CESSATION, NO PATH; NO KNOWLEDGE AND NO
ATTAINMENT.
The phrase beginning, “no eyes, no ears…” etc. lists
the six sense dharmas (including mind) and declares
them to be empty. “[N]o sight, no sound…” etc. lists
the objects of the senses and they are also empty.
“[N]o realm of sight…” is sometimes translated as,
“no dhatu of vision;” the eighteen dhatus are the six
senses again (indriya), the six sense objects (vishaya,
these could be also called qualia, which avoids implying a dualistic separation between subject and object),
and the six consciousnesses (how different from western psychology!) which are associated with them (six
vijnanas). These are all helpful teachings for breaking
the habit of taking unreal things to be real, and they
themselves are to be seen as ultimately unreal.
The phrase beginning, “no ignorance, nor extinction of ignorance…” refers to the Twelvefold Chain
of Causation (pratityasamutpada). It has twelve more
dharmas: forward, they go from ignorance (avidya)
link-by-link to old age and death (jaramarana);
backward, they end in no death. “No suffering, no
causation, no cessation, no path” refers to The Four
Noble Truths (dukha, samudaya, nirodha and marga).
These, too, are declared empty. Knowledge and attainment are the fruits of the path, which are also declared
empty. These profound teachings, which explain how
ignorance leads to suffering and how suffering can be
relieved, are all empty. Everything that Shariputra and
his school had relied upon is declared empty.
continued on page 9
page 8 • 2014 • issue 1
heart sutra terms and concepts / continued from page 8
WITH NOTHING TO ATTAIN, THE BODHISATTVA RELIES ON
PRAJNA PARAMITA AND THE MIND HAS NO HINDRANCES.
WITHOUT ANY HINDRANCES, NO FEARS EXIST. FAR BEYOND
EVERY INVERTED VIEW ONE DWELLS IN NIRVANA.
This is one definition of nirvana.
Things as they are = nirvana.
IN THE THREE WORLDS* ALL BUDDHAS DEPEND ON PRAJNA
PARAMITA, THEREBY ATTAINING UNSURPASSED, COMPLETE,
PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
THEREFORE, KNOW THE PRAJNA PARAMITA MANTRA IS THE
GREAT TRANSCENDENT MANTRA, IS THE GREAT BRIGHT
MANTRA, IS THE SUPREME MANTRA, IS THE INCOMPARABLE
MANTRA, WHICH REMOVES ALL SUFFERING AND IS TRUE NOT
FALSE.
THUS PROCLAIM THE PRAJNA PARAMITA MANTRA,
PROCLAIM THE MANTRA THAT SAYS GATE GATE PARAGATE
PARASAMGATE, BODHI SVAHA!
*The three worlds of desire, form and no-form, which
comprise samsara, “wandering,” the cycle of rebirth.
The rest of the Sutra is about practicing Prajnaparamita and that mysterious mantra. Rely on your
practice and abide in it. This is the liberating message
of the Heart Sutra. There are many useful teachings.
Use them! Practicing deeply means rely only on your
own inherent wisdom. Don’t tie yourself up with
imaginary rope! Don’t even cling to this Sutra! No
hindrances, no fears! I’ve heard many different meanings for the mantra. I like this one today: Freedom!
Freedom! Freedom beyond Freedom! Beyond Anything!
Inconceivable!
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
River of Gems (watercolor) / Sande Garvin
I Went to the Nirvana Café
And asked the waiter WHAT
THEY HAD TO DRINK
The waiter responded: “NOTHING”
“Good,” I replied, “I’ll take an extra large.”
THE BACKWARD STEP is a publication of
BEGINNER’S MIND ZEN CENTER
9325 Lasaine Avenue • Northridge, CA 91325
818-349-7708
www.beginnersmindzencenter.org
Please direct all inquiries, comments
and submissions to the editor:
[email protected]
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© 2014 Beginner’s Mind Zen Center. All rights reserved.
The Next Week I went to Café Illusion Next Door
Where everything was real illusion
“Do you have anything for self
realization? I asked.
The waiter offered me a blue
smoothie (with artificial flavor)
And handed me a counterfeit map to Nirvana.
– Richard Weekley
issue 1 • 2014 • page 9
who do you think you are? / continued from page 1
I lead a team of five people – some in my building,
and others who are in different parts of the country.
Sometimes, as I gather my team on a conference call,
or direct them on how they should approach a project,
there is a tiny but nagging voice in my head.
>> WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? <<
At times, people in my company will call me and consult. They treat me as an authority. I serve them the
best I can. But the voice persists.
>> WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? <<
>> WHAT MAKES YOU SO SPECIAL? <<
This voice is often with me in the zendo. Wrestling
with it has become a regular pastime. Sometimes
I embrace being a leader. Other times, I wonder
whether the ego has been activated. While my struggle feels deeply personal, I can’t help but think that
the early Zen practitioners also wrestled with their
egos in this same fashion. In fact, these questions of
the self are actually scripted into some of our Zen
traditions.
In monastic life, each practice period in Zen has a
head student called the Shuso. The ritual to choose
the Shuso is very formal (passed down for centuries?).
Below is an excerpt from that ceremony.
TEACHER: (student name), It has been decided that
for this season, you will be Shuso for the temple.
DISCIPLE: Master, my training is not complete. I
am too inexperienced for such an important role.
Any student would be better than me.
TEACHER: Your reluctance shows that you are
humble. This proves even further that you are
ready to be Shuso.
DISCIPLE: How about (name of student sitting
behind)? They would be a much better Shuso.
TEACHER: (student name), your reluctance grows
tiresome. And the assembly is weary.
DISCIPLE: Do they need help in the kitchen? If
three people are needed in the kitchen, I can be
#2 or #3.
TEACHER: IT IS DONE! (student name), we
proclaim you Shuso of the practice period!
DISCIPLE: Is anyone doing the bathrooms?
Okay, so maybe this is not the actual transcript of the
ceremony, but as I recall, this is not far from the truth.
Like Dana Carvey from Wayne’s World, the Shuso is
constantly declaring: “We’re not worthy!!”
page 10 • 2014 • issue 1
We need leaders in the sangha just as we need leaders in our offices and government. When I’m called
to lead, I’m pleased to use my gifts in any way I can
to serve the greater good. And yet, who am I to be
Kokyo? Or Tanto? Or the manager of five people?
This is my struggle. It seems I am on the stage
performing AND I am the loon in the back row
throwing rotten tomatoes. I’m fascinated by leaders
like Jack Welch and Steve Jobs, but I’m also the guy
on the factory floor who wants to tear them off their
pedestals. I am both Caesar and Brutus. Roadrunner
and Coyote.
I have struggled for years to integrate these different
yet simultaneous perspectives. I have never succeeded.
But there are clues to be found in these realizations. I
think, sometimes, we are ALL the Shuso. Sometimes,
we are all Kokyo. And whether I wanted to be Kokyo
that day or not, to be my best Kokyo is to find the
voice and just be Kokyo. Whether I am calling to
others, or being called, full expression of both roles is
most important.
>> WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? <<
Much like asking Who am I? – the question itself is
very Zen. Doubt is a concept that is embedded in our
practice. Without doubt, wouldn’t we be blind fundamentalists? Perhaps a good leader has doubts as well.
Without doubt, perhaps I would manage others at
work without compassion. Without doubt, I might be
so certain of my kokyo-ness that I never aspire to be a
better Kokyo.
Perhaps my true struggle is to simply be okay with the
question.
bodywork for buddhists
BETH MEGILL
As a dancer and performer, I have suffered many injuries
over the years. However, very few can be attributed to
an accident in rehearsal or performance (like a fall).
Most of my injuries are of the chronic kind. The worst
kind. Having tried most
everything available and
having different degrees
of success, I took a leap of
faith about a year ago and
tried a new method called
CFR. It stands for Cortical
Field Re-education, an
off-shoot of the work by
Moshe Feldenkrais.
What I discovered when
starting the work is that
it was actually less of a
physical therapy practice
than all others, and much more of a mindfulness
practice. It was Zen for wellbeing!
The CFR sessions have two formats:
• One-on-one table lessons give the practitioner
time to manipulate the bones of my body to
discover holding patterns that the brain has used
for compensation and allow them to elongate and
release.
• The group sessions involve following verbal
instructions in a practice of self-observation and
-awareness in minor movements that sometimes lead
to more complex somatic
patterns.
The group sessions offer
me a chance to observe
what my body does. And,
the key to these sessions
is non-attachment. By
knowing what we do,
we develop agency to
make different choices as
needed. The emphasis in
the group lessons is not on
performance of the movement, but on the exploration
of the lesson on an individual level. One person might
be making profound discoveries about the way their
shoulder moves (or doesn’t move), while another
participant might be taking note of their low back
and pelvis and yet another person might be noticing
mental resistance
in the form of
self criticism,
confusion or
frustration.
We observe it
all, knowing
that the way we
do one thing is
likely the way
we do everything. This practice of observation and
non-attachment is at the heart of CFR. We notice our
habits so that we can shed our physical compensations
and mental strategies that are costing us our health and
wellbeing. We look for habits that are mental, emotional
and physical. Therefore, if I get frustrated in a lesson and
feel like “I can’t do this.” I then observe that reaction
and wonder where else in my life that I feel like “I can’t
do this.” How
does this pattern
of thinking reflect
in my pattern of
interacting with
the world?
This deep
reflection process
is the very same as
our experience on
zazen in which we
allow ourselves to
be just as we are without judgment, knowing that the
practice of non-attachment affords us a chance to look
at what we do, see it for what it is and let it be or go as
needed. I often share my
experience of Zen with
my practitioner who is
Christian, and we joyfully
connect on the power of
a spiritual practice to help
us be in our bodies and
be in the world. The time
we spend connecting to
our sense of being (both
physically and mentally) is
our prayer, is our aligning
with Buddha, is our Zen
photos by Beth Megill
practice.
For more information on my practitioner, Melissa Krikorian or CFR in
general visit www. nexusphysicaltherapy.com
issue 1 • 2014 • page 11
a welcome
JON SPALDING
I congratulate those who completed the Jukai ceremony in January, and I hope that the following stories
of my own experiences reinforce your motivation to
continue the practice.
I began meditating back in 2010, at a time when I felt
lost, deluded, and more stressed and angry than I had
ever been. My aunt, a psychotherapist and fan of Jon
Kabat-Zinn, sent me some of his books on “mindfulness” while at the same time I took an introductory
meditation class at the Rochester Zen Center, as
recommended by a faculty member at the university.
This kick-started my practice.
It began slowly and steadily with 5, 10, and eventually 20-minute meditations on a folded blanket in
my studio apartment. A year later, after moving back
to Los Angeles, I tried to absorb more psychologythemed “mindfulness” by taking a Mindfulness Based
Stress Reduction™ class with a local psychotherapist,
Howard Blumenfeld, PhD.
Though I learned a lot in that course, the daily meditation CD’s and weekly meetings at Howard’s house
weren’t satisfying enough for me. I needed my practice
to sink deeper; I needed total immersion. But I wasn’t
seeking isolation on some remote mountain, as I had
found plenty of that amongst the many rocks I had
climbed during my college years. What I wanted was
something more.
About this time, I discovered Peter and Jane’s house.
Though it is named to reflect its official association
with Shunryu Suzuki, it might have the unofficial
name “Zen Home” as aptly applied by one visitor.
page 12 • 2014 • issue 1
JUKAI2014 JANUARY 19
LAY PRECEPTS CEREMONY
The name “Zen Home” appropriately describes why I
came to reside there as soon as the opportunity arose.
In fact, I spent 2011-2013 attending Cal State University Northridge, largely so that I could live there and
study Zen.
I arrived hoping Peter and Jane could represent some
kind of family role model for me; no amount of popularized “mindfulness” study, performed individually,
could ever be as useful as a live-in situation. Although
Peter and Jane would never replace my own dissatisfying upbringing, they did have a significant impact on
me during my time there.
For me, Peter and Jane represent peace and the possibility of acquiring internal peace through the practice
of meditation. They represent the possibility of a
harmonious marriage, something I had little hope of
before meeting them. They represent acceptance of
one’s own imperfections, and by extension, the imperfections of others (especially your spouse!). Tolerating
imperfection takes patience and the ability to let go of
our clinging to what we think should be, and instead
to accept what is. Patience, the key to relationship satisfaction – not just relationship with your significant
other but relationships with yourself and all other
beings – become easy if one practices meditation.
Now, of course, I had no intention of ever joining a “religious cult” (as I had previously considered
organized religions to be). One of the few lessons
my parents taught me was that you shouldn’t trust
continued on page 13
a welcome / continued from page 12
authority or ever give up your autonomy, so I had no
interest in changing that anytime soon. Yet I gradually gave in to Peter and Janes’ forceful insistence
(sarcasm) to participate in preparations for the Jukai
ceremony, set to occur in November of 2011. For
weeks, every Saturday afternoon was spent sewing my
rakusu, in addition to the morning meditation and
service; I took part in services and occasionally played
the mokugyo. “Namu Kie Butsu” for hours on end,
until all of the stitches were finalized on the piece of
cloth that I now use as a bib when I eat messy barbeque (I’m kidding! I still have it and I even wear it
when I remember to bring it with me to meditation).
Luckily, only one or two rows of stitches needed to be
redone on my rakusu; other sewers were less fortunate.
The preparations for the Jukai were so mundane that
it never occurred to me what I had gotten myself into.
The ceremony itself was rather painless. I hadn’t made
any conscious commitment to Zen in the months
leading up to it, though my interest in Zen had grown
over the prior year and a half; in fact, I communicated
to Peter and Jane on many occasions that I saw Zen as
some sort of self-improvement activity, more like lifting weights at the gym, than a life-long involvement
like Catholicism. I couldn’t imagine myself being
spiritual or religious, let alone committing to any sort
of spirituality. Yet, on the day of the Jukai I felt as
though I were getting married and it deeply affected
me. Peter and Jane, with their patience and skillful
means, had managed to melt some of the ice that had
locked me in a spiritual prison.
The metaphor of marriage is appropriate to Jukai –
though it is, formally at least, a marriage to the lay
continued on page 14
i take refuge in the three
treasures
THREE HAIKU BY BETH MEGILL
FOR HER JUKAI / 19 JANUARY 2014
falling acorn
caught in the earth’s mitt
takes root
broken wheelbarrow
fills with rain
a new bath for the birds
eyes sparkle seeing
the world behind closed lids
as it is
issue 1 • 2014 • page 13
a welcome / continued from page 13
precepts, I like to think of it as a marriage to yourself.
You’re committing to caring about yourself; by choosing to follow the precepts, you are choosing to make
your life better.
Those of you that just finished the Jukai are in the
honeymoon phase. The hard work of consistent participation in services and meditation plus sewing the
rakusu is over. Now, the hard part is maintaining
your practice, although it’s not really that difficult.
Though I wish I could report that I’m a shining
example of consistent meditation practice and strict
adherence to the precepts, I am not; in fact I have
often skip meditation and make numerous mistakes in
my life. But that’s okay, and it’s okay if you also make
mistakes and skip meditation practice. When you skip
practice, and perhaps fall back into old habits, if you
are lucky these instances will serve to remind you why
meditation is a good thing to do.
In engineering or environmental science, it is called
a feedback mechanism; that is, you will become selfcorrecting. If you are paying attention to how you
feel, when you slip up you’ll think to yourself, “Hmm.
Why am I all of a sudden so drained of energy? Why
do I keep procrastinating on all the amazing things I
want to do with my life? Oh. Right. I stopped meditating.” So you get back on the cushion and start
again (which gets easier each time).
Although I have been inconsistent, and though I
fall back into old habits, I have had positive longterm effects from my prior consistency of practice.
For example, a situation that would have previously
caused me to experience anxiety
might come up and, strangely,
as if a meditation bell has rung,
I will settle into a relaxed state
automatically and the fear dissipates. Or when I am faced with
page 14 • 2014 • issue 1
several options for food to buy or friends to associate
with, I more frequently pick the ones that are good for
me than I would have in the past.
So, new Zen family members, welcome and I hope
your meditation practice continues to enjoy you for
many years to come!
The suffering of the world
has been deep.
From this suffering comes
great compassion.
Great compassion makes
a peaceful heart.
A peaceful heart makes
a peaceful person.
A peaceful person makes
a peaceful family.
A peaceful family makes
a peaceful community.
A peaceful community makes
a peaceful nation.
A peaceful nation makes
a peaceful world.
May all beings live
in happiness and peace.
DISTRACTED BY DISTRACTION
Giving a self-righteous glare
to the distracted driver texting next to me –
I ran the red light.
Richard Weekley
Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda
Cambodian (Theravadan) monk
the pool (photo) / carol ring
hana matsuri 2014 (photo) / jon fish
issue 1 • 2014 • page 15
branching streams conference
SAN FRANCISCO ZEN CENTER / SEPTEMBER 12-15, 2013
HOGETSU RICK MITCHELL
For a group of people trained in the practice of sitting
silently, there sure was a lot of spirited verbal communication going on for three days in September at the
San Francisco Zen Center.
The cause of the commotion was the annual Branching Streams Conference, in which wayward monks
returned to break bread together in the Root Temple
of Shunryu Suzuki’s Soto Zen lineage in America.
Approximately 60 people participated, priests and
lay practitioners, representing more than 40 different
sanghas from around the country.
Most of the smaller sanghas are in Central and Northern California -- from Fresno and Modesto to Marin
and Mendocino. Only one, Beginner’s Mind in the
San Fernando Valley, is based in Southern California.
Others serve such far-flung locations as Marblehead,
Massachusetts; Brooklyn, New York; Chapel Hill,
North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida, all of which
were in the house at this conference. Texas has three
thriving sanghas in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage – Houston,
Austin and San Antonio – which sent a combined six
delegates to the conference.
To quote from the SFZC website, “Branching Streams
is a network of Dharma centers in the tradition of
Suzuki Roshi. Our intention is to encourage the
practice of Soto Zen in inclusive and creative ways in
centers large and small. The members of the group
will stay in touch with each other and learn from each
other’s experience. Branching Streams exists to explore
our interconnectedness, to nourish each other’s practice, and to find new ways to benefit each other. “
With this conference, the dharma centers of Branching Streams may indeed have found new ways to
benefit each other. Discussion topics included the
fundamentals of Zen practice, training for serious
practitioners, the nature and future of Western Zen
centers, and serving a diverse community of practitioners. The underlying question, however, centered
around the relationship between SFZC and the
affiliate sanghas: How can the Mother Temple more
effectively support the needs of its many and varied
offspring?
With its residential monastic practice at City Center,
Green Gulch and Tassajara, SFZC has long served
page 16 • 2014 • issue 1
as an essential training center for priests and lay students. For those of us who live in the hinterlands,
coming to Green Gulch or Tassajara for a guest
student residency or practice period is like a rite of
passage for serious practitioners.
But of the 80 or so teachers who have received
Dharma Transmission in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage, it
is estimated that about 70 are still living and teaching in and around the Bay Area. There are prominent
exceptions, such as Taigan Dan Leighton in Chicago,
Josho Pat Phelan in Chapel Hill, and Setsuan Gaelyn
Godwin in Houston. Yet many other large American
cities have only small, struggling lay-led sitting groups,
or no sanghas at all in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage.
To this end, Susan O’Connell, president of San Francisco Zen Center, announced to the gathering at the
concluding session on Saturday afternoon that SFZC
intended to allocate a portion of its budget in the
coming year toward the support of travel costs for
visiting teachers to the distant sanghas, and perhaps
in the near-future could support short-term residencies
for priests-in-training. She also suggested that SFZC
could facilitate in the creation of a limited access
website and/or Facebook page, for Branching Streams
members to communicate with each other on routing
and other issues.
Steve Weintraub, a psychotherapist and longtime
senior priest at SFZC who served as co-chair for the
conference with Roy Wyman of Chicago’s Ancient
Dragon Zen Gate, indicated he is ready and willing to
continued on page 17
get More Water, or
get a Smaller Glass.
Problem SolveD.
Enjoy the Water.
Enjoy the Glass.
no Problem.
no Empty, no Full.
no Water, no Glass.
What’s a Problem?
branching streams conference / continued from page 16
assume responsibility for coordinating the expanded
outreach effort.
The multiple breakout sessions were not without the
occasional difference of opinion or, as the Tibetans
would put it, dharma combat. But the attendees conducted themselves like, well, Zen students, mindful
of Buddha’s teachings of Right View, Right Intention,
Right Speech, and so forth. Reflecting Branching
Streams’ mission to stay in touch and learn from one
another’s experience, senior priests mixed casually and
unassumingly with relatively new priests and lay practitioners, old and young.
Among the distinguished elders in attendance were
Peter Schneider of Beginner’s Mind Zen Center in Los
Angeles, Yvonne Rand of Goat in the Road Sangha
in Mendocino County, Tim Buckley of Great River
Zendo in Maine, and Blanche Hartmann, former
abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. Steve Stuckey,
the current abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, and
Ed Sattizahn, the incoming abbot of City Center, also
participated fully in the conference and workshop.
Sattizahn, a longtime SFZC board member, and
O’Connell were especially helpful to sanghas looking
to increase their fundraising.
“Of all the Branching Streams conferences I’ve
been to, and I’ve been to a couple before this, this
has been by far the best organized and managed,”
said Jim Hare, a senior lay practitioner who leads the
Valley Streams Sangha in Sacramento. In addition
to Weintraub and Wyman, members of the planning
committee included Stacy and Ramana Waymire of
wedding ceremony for spencer levy & donna mendoza, 25 January 2014 (photo) / david boyns
the Ashland Zen Center in Oregon, Joan Amaral of
the Marblehead Zen Center in Massachusetts, and
Laurel Ross of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago.
It wasn’t all talk. Early mornings found the monks
assembled silently in the Beginner’s Mind basement
zendo. Meals were served in the dining hall, lovingly
prepared by City Center’s resident kitchen crew. The
conference concluded with a Saturday night performance of the musical play “The Fourth Messenger,”
which asks the question “What if Buddha were to
come back as a woman and what if she was alive
today?”
Informed that it was a privilege to be in the presence
of so much accumulated wisdom and experience, Al
Tribe of Marin
City’s Vimala
Sangha, who
began practicing with
Suzuki Roshi
in the late Sixties, laughingly
replied, “It’s
delusion.”
Of course it is.
Delusions are
inexhaustible.
But it’s inspiring to be able
to share them
sometimes.
issue 1 • 2014 • page 17
tentative provisional definition of “engi,” or
paean to a pine tree
CRAIG PAUP
“THE SENTENCE OF BEING AND THE SENTENCE OF NOTHING
ARE JUST LIKE A WISTERIA VINE TWINING AROUND A TREE. IF
SUDDENLY THE TREE FALLS AND THE WISTERIA VINE WITHERS,
WHERE WILL THOSE SENTENCES GO?”
— ZEN KOAN
Pratityasamutpada is a Buddhist Sanskrit term usually
translated as, “dependent arising” or “co-dependent
origination.” In Japanese, it is called engi. Like all
Buddhist terms, it has many meanings and implications depending on the specific context, and since this
dependence on context is one of the meanings of engi,
I will begin my explanation here.
A commonplace observation that illustrates this aspect
of engi is that nothing exists in a vacuum. For example, a pine tree needs light, certain temperatures, air,
soil, space, and water. Otherwise, it could not exist.
Further reflection tells us that each of these “pine tree
necessities” has its own necessities, like weather systems, gravity, nuclear reactions on the sun, erosion of
mountains to produce sand, bacteria to digest dead
plants and animals to provide nutrients; the full list
would be endless. In fact, engi implies that not one
single thing could be removed from the universe without also liquidating our pine tree. The pine tree is not
unique in this. The rest of the universe would have
to go, too. And, as this same pine tree could be the
single thing removed, we must thank the pine tree for
the existence of the universe. In this light, everything
from a rock to a rocket scientist is equal; every atom is
an Atlas upon which rests the world.
Here we run into a snag; atoms are smashed, pine
trees become newsletters, and still the world turns.
Buddhism’s answer to this hinges on the nature of
identity, or “self-nature.” If we analyze our pine tree,
we see that needles are not a pine tree, branches are
not, the trunk is not, the bark is not, the sap is not,
the roots are not. If we take everything away which is
not a pine tree, where is the pine tree? The abovementioned “pine tree necessities” are necessary conditions
for the pine tree to exist, so without them, where is
the pine tree? If, in the past, another pine tree had not
dropped a certain pine cone, where would the pine
tree be? Buddhism gives several provisional answers:
the pine tree does not actually exist since it has no
page 18 • 2014 • issue 1
essential part that is “pine
tree” and since it has no
existence apart from other
“things” which do not selfexist either. In this sense,
engi is the same as emptiness, another important
term. Alternately, the pine
tree exists, but only by the
mutual activity of every
other thing. This meaning
of engi also is emptiness.
The Heart Sutra expresses
this with the formula:
“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”
The Second Century
C.E. Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna said:
“It is because of Emptiness that all things can
be established. Without
Emptiness, nothing can
be established.” If our pine
tree really did have a “pine
tree self-nature,” then how
could it change and grow,
breathe in carbon dioxide
and exhale oxygen, burn,
rot, become printer paper,
or otherwise intermingle
looking inside (photos) / beth megill
with and support all the
other things in the universe? And, if our pine tree
absolutely does not exist, then the sunshine, air, water,
soil, and all the other elements of this tremendous
ecology combine to produce nothing. But the Heart
Sutra says, “the characteristic of the Emptiness of
all things is not arising, not ceasing, not defiled, not
pure, not increasing, not decreasing.”
Another “view” of this is that because everything connected with and necessary to the tree is really part
of the tree, the tree contains the universe, much like
Blake’s grain of sand.
continued on page 19
definition of engi / continued from page 18
eihei dogen / from the Eihei Koroku
But engi does not stop there. Our tree contains not
just one universe, but infinite numbers of universes.
All the other “things” in the universe also contain the
universe and our tree contains them. To illustrate this
let us imagine our pine tree in heaven. Its branches
reach out till they hang over the entire cosmos. At the
tip of each of its countless needles is a dewdrop. Each
of these dewdrops not only reflects the entire cosmos,
but it also reflects every one of the other dewdrops.
This is called “realms embracing realms ad infinitum.”
Sun face, moon face is the way.
Buddha face, ancestor face is the way.
Encountering is
expression–
expression
encountering.
Right here is clarity
itself, the top of the
head just here from
the beginning.
The way and the
painting emerge
together, realization
and the morning
sky are one
enlightenment.
Who speaks of
harmonious mind?
Simply say “Just this!”
Each of these “views” of engi emphasizes certain
aspects but obscures others, and so must be considered
tentative and provisional. The real meaning of engi,
and of all Buddhism, is enlightenment, which is not
to be found in words, but “with one’s own body.” It is
the “direct seeing into reality” which reveals the “true
nature” of things. Engi points the way by revealing
the importance of our relationship to everything.
“A MONK ASKED CHAO-CHAO TO TELL HIM THE MOST VITALLY
IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF CH’AN. THE MASTER EXCUSED
HIMSELF BY SAYING, ‘I MUST NOW GO TO MAKE WATER. THINK,
EVEN SUCH A TRIFLING THING I HAVE TO DO IN PERSON!’”
jane hirshfield / from After: Poems (Harper-Collins, 2006)
old man found excuses
to sweep by the sweet blooming—
jasmine
Richard Weekley
A DAY COMES
A day comes
when the mouth grows tired
of saying “I.”
Yet it is occupied
still by a self which must speak.
Which still desires,
is curious.
Which believes it has also a right.
What to do?
The tongue consults with the teeth
it knows will survive
both mouth and self,
which grin—it is their natural pose—
and say nothing.
issue 1 • 2014 • page 19
how i met the buddha
MARK MIDDLEBROOK
Do you really want to know how I met the Buddha?
I mean it’s really crazy when you think about all the
people you know who follow the Buddha and how they
got there. And then you look at my story and you’ll
probably say no one meets the Buddha like that, unless
he was just trying to puff things up. But believe me it
happened just the way I ‘m going to tell you.
I found the Buddha when I was ten years old. Yes, ten
years old. You might say here in the West, you’re really
enlightened, oh holy one. Save the sarcasm because, I
say it’s no big deal. A lot of people, especially in Asia
find the Buddha before they’re even born! Well, I had
to wait ten years and then I didn’t even know what I
was getting myself into.
Come on, chanting Sanskrit and sitting still for hours
instead of watching some really kick ass TV show or
googling cat videos for hours. Those are just a few of
the fun things you give up.
I mean, really, when I think about it, Buddhism is
about as far away as you can get from everything
that made America great. Pioneers never sat around
and counted their breaths unless they had gotten
all tuckered out after some really heavy plowing or
something. They had a nation to build and no time
for sitting on their duffs hatching ridiculous thoughts
like some of the doozies I’ve come up with. Like why
won’t your monkey mind settle down after you’ve
given it a mental banana? Now that I think about it
the only other people who sit around and count their
breaths are probably trapped coal miners. Not exactly a
testimonial.
But I digress from my story of how I met the Buddha
and I can almost hear you tapping your fingers. Except
being a Buddhist you really shouldn’t be getting impatient unless you want to sit and count your breaths
again. OK, it was back in 1963 in Florida and it wasn’t
in a Chinese restaurant like you’re probably thinking. I
mean this was Tampa for god’s sake, otherwise known
as Cigar City and that meant a lot back then.
Plus I don’t think I had ever been to a Chinese restaurant by then. I think a lot of people didn’t go to
Chinese restaurants there either. In fact, I thought
Chinese food came in a can that was named after some
silly guy like Chung King. It wasn’t something I went
skipping home to, to say the least. So why go to a restaurant for that?
But I also didn’t meet the Buddha in some amazing
Technicolor vision either, unfortunately. Nope, it’s not
like the fat guy walked into my life and said, “Here I
am, the Buddha. Let’s get enlightened!” No the only fat
guy I looked forward to came every Christmas in a red
suit and beard. And it wasn’t like it happens when you
meet Jesus. Which is something else altogether down
in the South.
To meet the Buddha you had to go to Fantasia, which
sounds pretty fancy like Zanadu or something. But
it was just down the street a few blocks, so no big
whoopee there. Though I do remember the joy the first
time my Dad took us all.
No, I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on those
crazy little golf clubs, take my colored ball, and knock
it down the green. Yes, you’ve guessed it, it was at a
continued on page 21
page 20 • 2014 • issue 1
how i met the buddha / continued from page 20
mini-golf course. After about an hour of whacking
your ball into this maze of traps and chicanery you
ended up at the last hole. But this wasn’t like any other
last hole you’ve ever seen at a mini-golf course. This is
where I finally met the Buddha.
For sitting there was an 18-foot scale model of the
Nara Buddha adorned in lustrous gold and red, sitting
in perfect composure. What better place to put the
last hole or “nirvana
hole” as I’ve come to
call it. Let’s face it
once you’ve attained
enlightenment from
shooting a hole-in-one
there’s nothing left to
do but enjoy a hot dog
and go home.
Unfortunately, years
later after I had left to
live a life, I returned
to only grass growing in the field that
had once held our
hot afternoon “Zen”
tournaments. I suppose after business
died, the plaster began
cracking, and they lost
their attachment to
the park, someone met
the Buddha and killed the Buddha with a bulldozer.
“It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past
which resulted from ignorance. Today, however,
we have access to more information, and it is
essential that we re-examine ethically what
we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to
coming generations.” – The Dalai Lama
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issue 1 • 2014 • page 21
HAIKU
ODDS AND ENDS
BY RICHARD WEEKLEY
BODHIDHARMA has journeyed to Southern China after
a long career in India as a master of the Buddha Way.
His reputation precedes him, and EMPEROR WU of
Liang, an especially enthusiastic and generous follower,
invites him to an audience...
We awake to a beautiful
kack—
old crow is back
beneath
oxygen tubes—
her priceless smile
unable to save son
hanging from the
jutting peak
of calculus
walnut vibrato
crackling in a deep
cistern—
old crow’s solo
what was there to know?
April afternoon—
cat plays with
tan grasshopper
old crow’s plaintive call
followed by a wrenched
silence
to be continued...
page 22 • 2014 • issue 1