"New and Old~Same or Different"

Rev Min'ui Maitri gives the year-ending Dharma talk about transitions, hard endings and beginnings, and the loss we feel when separated from things we love. Shariputra was finally extinguished, and Chunda was sad and felt a loss. The Buddha teaches us that it's inevitable. Zen teaches us that it's inevitable, feel the sadness fully, then let the sadness go.

"Chanting Service for Ven. Wonji Dharma"

These chants are from One Mind Zen on December 22, 2021 in memory of  Great Teacher, friend, and founder of the Five Mountain Zen Order, Wonji Dharma. Chanting Kwanseum Bosal and Jijang Bosal are typical chants to commemorate someone's death. We chant not only in his memory, but for ourselves as a Sangha, and for the sake of all beings everywhere. 

Why do we chant, and not just sit in meditation? We chant sincerely not for any magical properties the chant might have, or supernatural reasons. We chant as a Sangha, to realize the unity of all things, while not neglecting the differences among all things. We chant as an exercise in laser-sharp concentration, paying attention not only to what we are chanting ourselves, but also to the other members of the sangha, to the sound of the moktak. In doing so, we can perceive that state of unity and difference of self and others. 

Most importantly we chant with sincerity. Zen Master Seung Sahn once said that one could chant "Coca Cola, Coca Cola, Coca Cola," and if done with sincerity it would be no different than chanting Jijang Bosal or the Heart Sutra. We don't need to understand the words, be they in English or in this case, Korean. Words are unimportant. That feeling you get when the chant and the chanter become one is important.

"Life and death are of supreme importance.

Opportunities to awaken are easily lost.

Strive to realize your True Nature.

Do not squander your time by night or day."

"Opportunities to Awaken"

One of the Bodhisattva Vows is to embrace all the infinite opportunities we have to wake up. On Bodhi Day, we commemorate the Buddha's awakening-- his sitting down Gautama, and standing up the Buddha. May we all embrace the myriad chances we have to wake up for the sake of all beings.

Jonson Sunmin Miller gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen December 8, 2021.

"Where is That Ox?"

.

The 10 Oxherding pictures are an allegorical representation of our journey through Zen practice. This talk by Eunsahn Citta from December 1, 2021  goes through pictures 1 through 4: Searching for the Ox, Seeing traces of the Ox, Catching a glimpse of the Ox, and Capturing the Ox.

"To Do Good is to Act as a Buddha"

"To do good, not to do evil, and purify the heart/mind" are the three Pure Precepts. If you want to be what a Buddha is, do what a Buddha does, and that includes the doing and not-doing. Brier Haengdal Windwalker gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on November 17, 2021.

3 Out of 4 Immeasurables

The Four Immeasurables are among the Buddha's greatest teachings for Mahayana Buddhism. Robert Koho Epstein talks about Metta, Karuna, and Mudita in this Dharma talk.

"Falling Through the Wall"

In one moment, the atoms align perfectly, and the practitioner passes through the wall, like waves pass through water. Dharmas interpenetrate without hindrance...all are equal in practice. Here's the Dharma talk on November 3, 2021.

"Right Thought and the Foundations of Mindfulness"

Ron Kisen Stevenson gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen October 27, 2021. We have personalities, personality traits, and habits that come from somewhere--nature, nurture, storehouse consciousness--our practice helps us get to the root of what makes us tick the way we do.

"Can You Risk the Snooze Button?"

Life and death are of supreme importance.

Time passes swiftly by and opportunities to awaken are easily lost.

Strive to realize your true nature.

Do not squander your time by night or day.

Brier Haengdal Windwalker gives us the Dharma October 13, 2021.

"It Only Makes Sense"

In Bodhidharma's Outline of practice, he speaks of suffering injustice as being one of the ways to enter the path, that when unpleasantness arises not to be angry....It only makes sense. Here's Eunsahn Citta's Dharma talk October 6, 2021 to celebrate Bodhidharma Day.

"Holding On to a Different Past"

Ron Kisen Stevenson delivers the Dharma on September 29 at One Mind Zen. Is "forgiveness" a Buddhist act, or is it based in ego and superiority? Is lovingkindness and understanding a more appropriate way to deal with "problem" people?

"The Way Needs No Cultivation"

Master ​Mazu tells us that the Great Way needs no cultivation, just do not defile. Later he tells us that "Ordinary mind is the Way." The conclusion is that the Mind of your daily activities--your regular, ordinary Mind--is fine, just so long as you don't defile it with greed, anger, and ignorance. The deluded Mind is the defiled Mind. The One Mind of the Buddhas & the Sages is the Ordinary Mind, the one we already have, and don't need to cultivate. Malintha Hwamin Perera gives us the Dharma talk on September 22, 2021

"A Dark & Stormy Night"

Bryan Guy gives us a talk on Ashvaghosa's "Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana," and the Buddhist love of lists and how handy they can be.

"Friends"

In the Upaddha Sutta, Ananda declares, 'This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.' The Buddha replies:

'Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. 

We take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha--each supports the other two elements. If one leg is missing, the practice is not fully supported. Jonson Sunmin Miller gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on September 9, 2021.

"To Stop the Children From Crying"

When asked why Mazu would say, "Mind is Buddha," he replied, "To stop the children from crying." The question is, what are we doing and saying to stop the children from crying? And what do we say and do to stop ourselves from crying?

Eunsahn Citta gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on September 1, 2021.

"The Fenceless Fence" (Platform Sutra Week 4)

Huineng warns us of attachment, how it is a barrier to the Great Way. But don't attach to non-attachment, to barriers, or to the Great Way. "Answer in antonyms...but even the opposites and seeming contradiction doesn't create dualism." Brier Haengdal Windwalker gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on August 25, 2021.

"Samadhi & Prajna" (Platform Sutra Week 3)

Huineng says, "Samadhi and Prajna are fundamental. But do not be under the wrong impression that these two are independent of each other...To hold such an opinion would imply that there are two characteristics in the Dharma."

Zen Master Seung Sahn says, ""Samadhi has no cause, no effect, no karma, no enlightenment, no I, nothing at all..."

Leave your "I" at the door and experience Samadhi/Prajna, but don't call them a thing!

Malintha Hwamin Perera gives the Dharma talk on August 18, 2021 at One Mind Zen.

"What is Prajna?" (Platform Sutra Week 2)

Jonson Sunmin Miller uses Chapters 2-4 of the Platform Sutra as the basis for his Dharma talk from August 11 2021 at One Mind Zen.

"Don't Despise the Beginner" (Platform Sutra Week 1)

Huineng, the 6th Patriarch of Zen was an illiterate wood cutter from the south. Hongren banished him to the rice-pounding room when Huineng arrived at the temple. But the rice was ready, and waiting for the sieve. He was made the 6th patriarch years before he was ordained. Are you ready for the sieve, regardless of your rank? The Dharma talk at One Mind Zen August 4, 2021.

"Five Empty Heaps"

Want to be saved from all suffering and distress? Perceive that all five skandhas are empty. Or use five words: "What is this?" "Don't know." Or better yet, these five words: "How may I help you?"

Bryant Guy​ gives the talk at One Mind Zen on July 28, 2021.

"The Great Eternal Question"

"Are we there yet?" "Yes" "Why?" "Because we haven't left here." "Why?" "Because I said so!"

Brier Haengdal Windwalker gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen July 21, 2021.

"Don't be a Bodhisattva"

Don't be Mahayana or Hinayana. Don't be a Deva or Asura. Don't be a hungry ghost or an animal. Don't be a monk or layperson. Don't be Seon or Chan or Zen or Thien. Don't even be a Buddhist....Be a Buddha. Jonson Sunmin Miller gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen July 14, 2021.

"Mirror of Zen"

"The sacred radiance of our original nature never darkens.

It has shined forth since beginningless time. 

Do you wish to enter the gate that leads to this? 

Simply do not give rise to conceptual thinking."

Eunsahn Citta gives the Dharma talk 7/7/2021 at One Mind Zen.

"Consolation"

When someone dies, it takes great skill to determine what's a skillful way to respond to the news. "...no death, and no extinction of it..." could comfort some, others not at all. But to this Zen practitioner it was great consolation. Eunsahn Citta gives the Dharma talk on June 23, 2021 at One Mind Zen.

"Supporting all Living Creatures"

"Support all living creatures, refrain from killing" says the First Precept. We ourselves are among the living creatures we should support. Our support for living creatures doesn't mean we impose our view on how to do that on others, it means we ourselves support all living creatures, in whatever way that may be accomplished. Jonson Sunmin Miller gives us the Dharma talk from One Mind Zen June 9, 2021.

This is not who I am (and I’m sorry if I offended anyone)

By Rev. Mike Jinji Sunya Wood

 

“Cancel Culture,” if it exists, would probably not exist if those caught in the spotlight doing or saying something harmful would just apologize, rather than offer a non-apology that looks like contrition only at first glance. It is human to make mistakes, human to make the most hurtful decisions for yourself and other people, human to create good and bad, evil and sacred. It is also human to own one’s actions, reflect on them and learn from them; it is human to admit you are human. Whenever anyone gets called out or their actions begin to hurt their image or pocketbook, the line is usually used, among others, is something like “I’m not like this,” “This is not who I am,” “Anyone who knows me I’m not like this,” etc. 

That selfish, cruel person committing those actions is a part of who they are.

And 

Surprise! That is who you are too!

If you did something, of course that’s you who did it! Is anything more straightforward? That’s not all you are; a person shouldn’t be judged based on one action or comment. But neither should they avoid the fact that all humans, as complex, flawed beings are capable of anything. It’s just a fact. You may not wake up one day and think it is a good idea to use (and sell) as a protest against vaccinations the Star of David badge that Jews were forced to wear as identification, to shame, to draw attention to them as objects for abuse; but watch out if you think you can’t do something similar, especially in such shrill, thin-skinned times. That woman who did obscenely  exploit a sacred symbol, rightfully enraging and appalling millions in the process, never thought she was the type to wake up with an idea like that either. 

I think that those insincere, defensive public apologies are driven by fear, fear of losing business, influence, reputation, of the now-inevitable death threats and trolling. Part of it too, perhaps, is a fear of being treated as one-dimensional, defined by one incident, villain. They fear being treated in the way in which they probably saw other people who fucked up in public before them; they may also fear the rage which they felt for those others was now to be turned on them.

We all have a hard time admitting we are vulnerable. We have an even harder time sitting with the idea that we are also capable of causing great pain, making someone vulnerable feel worse about themselves. 

 

So, to the only question there is: 

 

Who are you?

(ie What is this? Or Does a dog have Buddha Nature?)

 

Does the woman selling the Star of David in the belief that state-supplied vaccines are equal in tyranny to the Nazi state-mandated extermination of an entire race have Buddha Nature?

It is important, I think, to try and understand just what surprise is. Surprise may be understood as being of two main types:

The “surprise” that comes from encountering people or situations in life that disappoint us; an expected promotion turns out to be a layoff; a first spin in a new car ends in an accident that paralyses you for life; the sudden death of a loved one, etc.. The most common surprise in this context is that which comes from other people letting us down.

But the deeper we examine ourselves, observe what arises and recedes around us and in us, sooner or later we learn to realize, if not accept, that we let other people down too. We hurt people. 

The other type, then, is the surprise of the curious, not the deluded, of the one bold enough to realize one’s own potential for harm, and for being harmed, and for failure, that leads to compassion, to an understanding of interdependence, of the brief, fragile nature of all beings. Hold people accountable, directly, publicly and legally, for the hurt they cause—just don’t let yourself be lulled into a satisfying dream that they and their actions or words are beneath you.

Instead find surprise in how, in the next moment, in every moment, you have everything you need to be free. Not tomorrow, not down the road, not with more wisdom or with more repentance; you can recognize the basic sanity you were born with right now. You may forget it for the next hour, but it is accessible any time. Even in your mean and arbitrary moments, you still have that sanity.

We are all flawed, poignantly and maddeningly so. It takes a lot of guts to wade thru all that with consistency and dignity. I guess that’s why compassion is such a bitch to practice: to not take those flaws personally, to recognize that if people were “in their right minds,” they would not hurt others, deliberately or thru ignorance. But they do, I do, we all do. Those insights are hard won, and hard to accept. As Dharma practitioners, we choose to work towards realizing them, and that means accepting pain and disappointment are central to everyone’s story. Those who stay greedy, angry, and ignorant of that are those that keep hurting other people. 

Do the dirty work; it is the base and peak of the mountain at once. Here you are the novice and the Bodhisattva at once.

 

 

 

"Spend the Night in a Cave"

Eunsahn Citta's Dharma talk on Wonhyo at One Mind Zen on June 2, 2021.

"In Korea, Wonhyo (617-666) was on his way to China, in the hopes of finding a master who would teach him Buddhism. While on his long walk, he became thirsty, but kept walking. By nightfall he was becoming dehydrated, and retreated into a cave. By luck, he found inside a bowl filled with water. He drank greedily and fell asleep. The next morning, in the light of day, he realized in quick succession that the cave was a tomb, the bowl was a skull, and the water inside it was fetid and filled with maggots. He threw up violently, at which point he was enlightened and saw no need to continue on to China".

--From "The Vomit of Insight" by Mike Jinji Wood.

"Turning and Churning 10,000 Things"

"The 10,000 things return to the 1. Where does the 1 return?" Jonson Sunmin Miller tells us about one thing and the ten thousand things in his Dharma talk from May 26, 2021 at One Mind Zen.

"Which Buddha"

 

Marking the 2,557th Birthday of the Buddha (Vesak), Ron Kisen Stevenson talks about the many Buddhas we encounter--from the Pali Canon, to the Mahayana Sutras, to ourselves. What we experience personally is authentic Buddha, not one based in myth, history, or even scriptures. (Image of Vesak in So Korea courtesy Xinhua).

The Starting Line

 Guest blog by Mike Jinji Wood

Our failures to act, our hesitations, can be the foundation for Bodhicitta, fuel that an aspiring Bodhisattva can use in order to relate to and aid other sufferers. I realize that I have had with me all along the tools I need to heal and be healed; I needed to wade through my sense of who I was to see its impermanence, to see how much of my suffering beyond the initial events was caused by my absorption in them; I needed to realize that understanding my losses as well as my missteps were important because they placed me among everyone else who has suffered. The particulars of my suffering need to be valued, and healed, but are important in so far as they help me understand what other people need to heal. As the individual is both unique and a literal container for the universe, so too the individual path of one at the beginning of the path relates to the idea of the Bodhisattva ‘s path over eons. Instead of eons, I am moment by moment trying to help, trying to use my flaws to my advantage by putting me in a position of understanding of what is needed within a wide range of suffering, developing bodhicitta and compassion from examining my errors and suffering and yet still finding myself in a fortunate position—because of them—to be of service.

This speaks to the heart of my intentions as one who has taken the Bodhisattva vow. Though I am only just beginning, there are already a series of questions I keep in mind, knowing that it is ok if I have no clue how to answer them on a given day. How do I express interdependence in my actions? Do I? Do I really wish to devote my life to service? Why? What are my intentions in taking the vow of Bodhisattva priest? What are the ingredients at hand at this first stage? What do I believe about enlightenment that will help me be useful at this stage? I believe all of these questions need not be, but can be, answered by how I see myself at the first stage of those vows. What does being at the first stage really mean if, in essence, it contains within it the highest of stages of abilities and realizations?

I have always been enamored of the idea of Beginner’s Mind. I take the Bodhisattva’s keeping his defilements handy, as it were, as Upaya for helping the widest range of life with which one will interact for their benefit. To know suffering in many forms can make one more useful, more able to understand the suffering of certain groups. While this is dangerous, at least in the beginning of the path—it is easy to delude oneself into thinking that one is getting drunk with drunks merely to relate to them in order to save them!—mindfulness of one’s flaws is key to understanding and being compassionate to the flaws of others. For me, Beginner’s Mind means that I just need to act, not worry about becoming anything. I can be at the starting line with other people who are also starting out—to rebuild their lives, recovery, learn to read, learn to accept their life and their responsibility for it. To me it means not being afraid to do the daily dirty work of paying attention, being mindful, noticing all the sentient life around you and taking responsibility for it. In those daily, seemingly mundane steps are the seeds for the magisterial heights reached by the Bodhisattva through eons of being of service and taking one’s vows seriously.

The process of practice, of acting out one’s vows with the understanding of their initial imperfection and ultimate emptiness, is what matters. The aspiring bodhisattva at the beginning stage still acts with a mindfulness of vow and a determination to serve; in that way his actions are interdependent with the most perfected of bodhisattvas.

I once signed up to read the weekly news and some books for the blind on a local closed circuit radio station. I impressed myself when I overcame the familiar anxiety in the parking lot that made me want to run away and blow off the audition. I went in, checked in at the front desk where a blind receptionist made a call to announce that the next appointment had arrived. I sat there, excited to have a chance to be a part of something so needed. As I sat there, the man who had auditioned ahead of me came out a side door with a scowl on his face. That was all I needed to deflate my aspiration. As he walked out the door, I followed him and we almost went through the door as one. I often wondered if she heard me leave, or if maybe for a moment she was alarmed that the next man to audition was no longer breathing.

I’m making no great statement of insight or of transformation, nor do I minimize my selfish and neurotic actions which affected other people to some degree. A good part of this is just the natural process of growing up, learning from experience and philosophically taking my head out of my ass. But today I see the Bodhisattva path in terms of action and dedication, whereas maybe twenty years ago I’d have been too enthralled by whatever mystical connotations I attached to it to be of use to anyone. When faced with a person who is suffering, thinking about how I may act as a Bodhisattva, or how worthy or not I am to be having such an aspiration, is foolish.

Just help.

The robe I wear, along with the brown kesa, announces that I am a fully ordained monk. But that doesn’t mean I’m halfway toward becoming a Zen master, or am a few steps ahead of other practitioners. If every moment is completely new, then I am always a novice. I have never been 55 years old on April 30 at 9:16pm. How can I pretend to have special insight into a moment that never existed before now? To see each moment like a novice, to greet the moment with curiosity and awe, to stand aside and let the moment reveal its needs, leaves little time for any version of the self to impose itself. How can we allow each moment to reveal itself, to teach us amateurs how we can help it benefit and care for all beings? We too often look toward the finish line in our ambitions and practice, but there is so much to do at the starting line. The more we step aside and see what is independent of our ambitions and biases, we notice that every moment is a starting line, the starting line.

"Sitting With the Adults"

There comes that moment when you finally "graduate" from being with the kids and the adults finally let you join in. When that comes to Zen practice, that may not be all it's cracked up to be. Brier Haengdal Windwalker gives us the talk from May 12, 2021 at One Mind Zen.

"What Are You Sitting For?"

Seated meditation is certainly a part of Zen practice. But why do we sit, why do we meditate? Is it to become Buddha? Don't make your teacher polish a brick! Eunsahn Citta gives the Dharma talk from One Mind Zen on May 5, 2021.

"The Path, the Practice, and the Precepts"

A practitioner who decides to dedicate him or herself to Zen does so by taking the Five Precepts in a ceremony with a Zen group. 

The formal student–teacher relationship is reserved for those who are concerned with “the great question of birth and death,” have a genuine spiritual aspiration to come to awakening, are willing to exert themselves in their practice including  retreat attendance, and feel a genuine rapport with the Guiding Teacher.

Jonson Sunmin Miller gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on April 28, 2021. 

"The Way Seeking Mind"

Bryant Guy gives us the talk at One Mind Zen April 21, 2021. "The most essential method, which includes all methods, is beholding the mind" says Bodhidharma. How we get there can take many forms, changing from moment to moment.

"Grief and Compassion"

Grieving is a natural part of life. We can look at it as compassion not only for others, but for ourselves as well. As with any other emotion, we let it pass in its own time without clinging to it or ignoring it. Ron Kisen Stevenson gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen on April 14, 2021.

 

"Words Beyond Words"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Optimistic? Possibly, but true. Words and their meanings, our attachment and aversion toward them, are made by thinking only. Put it all down! Eunsahn Citta's Dharma talk from One Mind Zen on April 7, 2021.

"The Invisible Boundary of Self"

When the amoeba see something good, it opens its membrane and envelops it. When something unpleasant comes along, the membrane closes. Are we any different--more evolved that a single-celled organism? Robert Koho Epstein gives us the Dharma talk from One Mind Zen on March 31, 2021.

"The Jewel in the Hem"

In tonight's talk at One Mind Zen, Ron​ Kisen Stevenson talks about conditioned responses, un-conditioning them, and appreciating the time-being. That's when the jewel of our True Nature is revealed to have been with us all along.

The Vomit of Insight - Guest blog by Rev. Mike Jinji Sunya Wood

Roughly thirteen hundred years ago, one Zen master showed us, through his vomit, how we create—and can overcome—birth and death. This is a rather extreme example of insight, yet Wonhyo, one of the great iconoclasts in Buddhist history, used this common experience we all share— as the spark for his awakening. That his story has made it to us today further shows its relevance, though it probably has also lasted due to its seemingly perverse nature. As with many Buddhist stories, though, the point is not whether or not the events actually took place, but with its message.

 In Korea, Wonhyo (617-666) was on his way to China, in the hopes of finding a master who would teach him Buddhism. While on his long walk, he became thirsty, but kept walking. By nightfall he was becoming dehydrated, and retreated into a cave. By luck, he found inside a bowl filled with water. He drank greedily and fell asleep. The next morning, in the light of day, he realized in quick succession that the cave was a tomb, the bowl was a skull, and the water inside it was fetid and filled with maggots. He threw up violently, at which point he was enlightened and saw no need to continue on to China.

A lesson that can be learned here is that we create the good and bad of a situation through our biases, knee-jerk reactions, and conventional understanding. Yet the lesson is also that any situation is a moment to realize liberation, and any challenging moment can be endured without making it any more dire or rosy than it ought. We can realize that we are already liberated by meeting any situation head-on, like Wonhyo, who in his disgust realized that it was only his perspective that caused him pain. Not that drinking maggot, gristle stew out of a skull is recommended—but the night before it had been some of the best water he ever drank. The primacy of personal experience and choice is clear.

The mind is a terrible thing to listen to, a wild jackass of fragments of memory, experience, lies, fears, hopes, dreams, songs, TV shows; we’ve talked to ourselves for long that we’ve churned all that mess into a semi-coherent narrative that we come to believe is true. This jackass becomes a thief, taking you away from a real experience of life with its powerful and seductive judgments and resemblance to a linear factual assessment of who you are.

We can use even the most harsh, sick, disgusting moments of our lives as vehicles for awakening, for breaking the spell of that inner tele-novella . As we can become aware that negative actions and thoughts are just energy, powerful energy that can in turn be redirected for beneficial use, we can also see times of illness or stress as times when there is useful energy present. All of life is our practice: if we are sick, we practice experiencing our sickness, without judgment; likewise with despair, rejection, insult, etc. This does not mean trying to convince ourselves that we don’t feel like shit, or that we are not afraid or grief-stricken. There are times when listening to what our minds are telling us about our bodies is critical to maintaining good health.

 It does mean realizing that, if any moment, this moment, is the moment to wake up, and if this is moment of discomfort, so be it. Wonhyo experienced through nausea—and its insight into life and death—an enlightenment moment. Literally puking out ignorance and fear, and realizing that discomfort and fear can be good news for practice, and sharp insight into the ephemeral nature of our emotions. He might have mentioned the hazards of laughing while vomiting, but we nevertheless  can be grateful to Wonhyo for his being able to carry this lesson onto the Bodhisattva path and pass on that insight for the benefit of others.

Though Wonhyo could be ambivalent about the necessity of a teacher in one’s awakening, he was a teachers, albeit of the primacy of individual experience. No one can puke out my illness for me; a good teacher, though, like these sages, could point out my sickness for you, and hold the bucket while I vomit out some more of my ignorance.

 

 

 

 

 

"I Am Not In Control"

Forms, feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness...Avalokiteshvara tells us they're all characterized by emptiness. Sometimes the emotions run high, and it takes some effort to return to the still point, especially after one Zoom meeting too many. Jonson Sunmin Miller's Dharma talk from One Mind Zen on March 17, 2021.

"It's Not Pie"

It's not like there's a finite amount of generosity to go around. Generosity requires a willing giver and a willing recipient. Accepting generosity doesn't diminish either party. In the perfection of generosity there is no other party. Eunsahn Citta gives the Dharma talk March 10, 2021 at One Mind Zen Hermitage.

"The Bondage of the Blue Screen"

You're the writer, director, actor, special effects technician, and even the reviewer of that film you call "me." 

Malintha​ Hwamin Perera gives the Dharma talk at One Mind Zen March 3, 2021. 

Two Raw Vimalakirtis

By Rev. Mike Jinji Sunya

Much like Vimalakirti, the sly layman of the eponymous sutra, we often meet people who challenge us with their pain, shake us out of our stupor by the mere fact of their presence or, rather, the jarring presence of their suffering. Vimalakirti’s illness was Upaya, skillful means for instructing even some of the great Bodhisattvas in the uncomfortable face of suffering, the true cost of compassion.

So this means too that one of the basic points of the sutra is that though ultimately there is no sickness, in this realm of form, and that sickness can be useful not only as a tool for awakening, but as a means to helps others wake up, it is also real, and acute, and a cruel teacher. To learn compassion, or inspire compassion in others, then, is to recognize both the form and emptiness of pain.

Much like the short Pali teaching The Monk with Dysentery, illness becomes the sharpest of blades, challenging our compassion, our vows, the true cost of the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings. Illness reminds us that practice has to include the dirty work.

Two friends of mine died, years apart an under drastically different circumstances, but their teachings have become, for me, inspiration for living my vow and constant challenges to any bullshit or pride inherent in my practice.

Roger was a resident of the nursing home where I was to do my practical portion of CNA training. My (and my partner’s) duties for him included the most feared of tasks for the trainees: He had an colostomy bag, which had to be emptied and replaced as part of washing him and getting him ready for bed. Once we got him undressed and in the shower, we saw clearly that no one had changed his bag in some time; it was full. I jumped right in and volunteered to the one to change him. I barely touched the bag when it popped loose from his side, and shit therein was now all over me, over him, over my partner. I was also face-face with the open stoma, which was oozing more shit.

Shari Faye Smith was a friend I only met once, on an episode of Forensic Files. She had been abducted by a serial killer who taunted her family by phone once she was in his clutches. Before he was to torture and kill her in the most unspeakable ways, he made her write out a last will.  Fully aware that she was going to die not soon after writing it, fully aware of the horror and pain she about to endure, she spent her last few clear-headed moments to show compassion to her parents, and to meet her fate with a steely grace that goes to the marrow of the bodhisattva vow:

I love you Mommy, Daddy, Robert, Dawn & Richard (her boyfriend) and everyone else and all other friends and relatives. I’ll be with my Father now, so please, please don’t worry. Just remember my witty personality & great special times we all shared together. Please don’t even let this ruin your lives, just keep living one day at a time for Jesus. Some good will come out of this. My thoughts will always be with you & in you. Casket closed. (Emphasis mine.-mw.)

Mom, Dad, Robert & Dawn, there’s so much I want to say that I should have said before now. I love y’all! I know ya’ll love me and will miss me very much, but if ya’ll stick together like we always did – ya’ll can do it! Please do not become hard or upset. “Every thing works out for the good of those that love the Lord” (Romans 8:28).

She had just turned 18.

While she derived her strength and resolve from a faith source we may or may not share, the lesson of the power of pain to speed up a realization of, access to, the marrow of practice is clear. Shari Faye Smith embodied Great Faith, Great Doubt and Great Effort as resolutely as any Patriarch.

In Vimalakirti’s little room, the great radiant Bodhisattvas of the 10,000 Realms had no answer to his bringing them face-to-face with simple sickness and death. Of course, there was really nothing in the room at all, illness being ultimately empty as is all form. So that form was empty, but in the moment experienced was a hammer to the face of ignorance, to the dreams of bliss and mastery.

My friends the old man, the teenage girl, and all teachers and bodies (including my own), remind me that the dharma gates we sometimes enter in order to help all beings are doors to sickness, to shit, to incredible pain, to a lost cause, all icy-hot challenges to our own vows, our own Great Faith, Great Doubt, and Great Effort.

What in your life or your practice helps you run toward the dirty work?

What pain do you avoid or turn away from, because it isn’t comfortable or is too painful to embrace?

My answers to that last question include abused animals/images of factory farming, aggressive mental illness, hungry kids; I’m sure that behind the many other doors that need to be opened by me, are suffering beings for whom my tears, self-doubt, squeamishness and pity are not welcome and shown to be hollow.

How can we possibly live our vows? How do I come to embrace the dire needs that are always present? Advancing toward the light is the same in emptiness and form, in contingent and Ultimate realms as shit, and blood, and helpless, raw suffering. How does all that simple yet kinda esoteric idea play out in the mud of your daily life? By getting as close as you can to it, eyes wide open, and become what the moment needs.