An outline for a talk on October 3 2010.
The main ideas, based on recent books, are centered.
Editorial notes and opinions are left justified.
Truth, and Precepts: Two renderings of the Unmistakable Truth Precept:
Conservative: not to preach, not to speak one word
Liberal: allow illusions to arise and then, going beyond them, go forward in practice.
Way Seeking Mind
... "to fly like a bird, with complete freedom" ...
Way: Practice and Mindfulness
... ordinary mind is the way ...
The Way of Zen was for milenia monastic
Monasticism is examined from both eastern and western perspectives in
Reference: "Benedict's Dharma: Buddhists Reflect on the Rule of St. Benedict"
... with an Afterword by David Steindl-Rast, OSB
from Brother David's Conclusions
... there is fire in (St. Benedict's) "Holy Rule"
the concern is practical ... rules for monastic life and work
Daily practice ... for mindfulness and reverence
Lay practitioners are advancing practice
East and West have much to learn from each other
Like St Benedict's Rule, this is but a beginning ...
Way Seeking: How I Came to This
Reference: "Boom Town Boy" by Jack De Yonge
Bio: Fairbanks Alaska, 1935-1957, the northernmost wild westernmost
Pioneering parents, alter boys, news boys, Fairbanks school and U of Alaska
Jack's squalor, fights, gangs, sex, inequity, racism, chauvinism and prejudice
My benign tag-along play, suffering loneliness and inadequacy
1957 BSEE summa cum laude U of A, married in fall
IBM Los Gatos Advanced Systems Development 1960-1970
1957-1965 Stanford Ph.D., with 5 kids living in Villa Del Monte
Late 60s seeking via reading, therapies, with social unrest
1970 divorcing and concurrently leaving IBM, through friends to Haiku Zendo and Kobun
SRI 1972-1995
1970-1980 quiet but eventful practice
1977 Tasajara ... "you cannot grasp what you seek" ...
Way Seeking as a servomechanism with complex algorithms
... biological antenna progressively tuning into our Source ...
1982 new marriage, 1988 Santa Cruz mountains, 1995 retirement
Way Seeking Mind: What Is This?
Reference: "The Heart of Buddha's Teachings" and other books by
Thich Nhat Hahn
... Buddhism is not one ... each country always acquires a new form of Buddhism ...
... interbeing, empty of a separate self-nature
... "Perfect Understanding is a great mantra" ... the 8-fold path
Kobun's 4 Vows, a soft and flexible mind not holding to fixed views
practice ... upright posture, waves of attention, intension ... problems
noticing thoughts, sensations, emotions, sense of location in consciousness
Sesshins, Sammadhi, Jhanas, gradual non-attainment, glimmers of big mind
Summary
The way, or path, is informed by milenia of monasticism
lighted by the fire, sacredness, or holiness implicit in monastic practice
Way-seeking is what we do by nature, first materially then spiritually,
toward transcending selfishness, and even spiritual materialism
Way seeking mind is this ungraspable present
changing moment of mindful freedom, flying like a bird
We are Way Seeking servomechanisms with complex algorithms
... biological antenna progressively tuning to our Source ...
Zazen is a process that pumps, into our world,
joy sharing, compassion, equanimity, and loving kindness.
... you are not it, it is you ...
... "I believe I will never quite know
Though I play at the edges of knowing
truly I know
our part is not knowing"
From Mary Oliver's poem "Bone"
Future Talk?
Reference: "I am a Strange Loop"
by Douglas Hoffstadler
Scientists, and many informed people, know that "I, me, mine" are ego's fiction
brain, body, senses, and outside influences are interdependent
Freud's Ego, Id, and Super-ego influences compete; as inner parent adult and child
Jung's stages of development, unconscious, and archetypes have immeasurable influences
I would welcome feedback, email Way Seeking Mind
Other Talks given at Jikoji.
Whimsy of Truth, Love and Beauty.
Back to Mind and Meditation.
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