There’s a new product on the market called Zen12 that let’s you get an hour’s worth of meditation in just twelve minutes! Or as Arj Barker says in The Sickest Buddhist, “The instructor just told us to do a 45 minute meditation. I nailed it in ten!”
So you probably won’t need to come to Culver City tomorrow for our first Half Day Sitting of the year at the Kaizuka Room at the Veteran’s Memorial Complex, 4117 Overland Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230. Why sit half the day when you can get the same amount of sitting done in, like, 36 minutes?
See? This is the problem with meditation. It takes too damn long! Who has the time for that? We’re busy people! We got stuff we gotta get done!
Big Mindâ„¢ was a great solution for its time. It promised you an Enlightenment Experience just like Buddha’s in a single day. It took Buddha – what? – like seven years of wandering around in the wilderness and gosh knows how many hours of meditation. But – damn! – now you can get that shit done and over with in a day! Maybe go shopping in the afternoon. Get some bells and beads and stuff. Take that, so-called Enlightened One!
It’s simple. People want to slow down their minds. But they want to get that done quick cuz there’s so much else to do! You gotta get people grounded fast so they can take off again for the next thing! D’uh!
Anyway. It’s a New Year. Let’s set some intentions and what-not. My intention this year is to get a center in Los Angeles happening. I’m gonna start blogging on that topic in a special series. First I’ll explain why Los Angeles of all places, then we’ll go from there.
I’m often asked about how one can be “in the moment” and still have goals. For one thing, I kind of hate that phrase, “in the moment.” But I guess we’re stuck with it. The way to have goals and be in the moment, though, is pretty straight-forward. Set your goals now. That is, do your goal setting with full participation in the moment in which you are setting goals. Just set your goal. Don’t worry about the rest.
Know that you might not attain those goals. Know that you’ll have to be flexible when your plans don’t pan out. Know that your goal won’t be anything like you imagine it’s gonna be. But just do it.
Zen practice is goalless. But once I had an interesting conversation with Nishijima Roshi. I was working for a company that had lost its way. They didn’t know what they wanted to do. I said this to Nishijima and said, “I know in Zen we have no goal in practice…”
He cut me off and said, “Yes. But in business you need to have a goal!”
So there are different spheres of life that you approach in different ways. When you start to understand the goallessness of Zen practice, goals like you have in business or in opening a Zen center start to make a kind of sense they never did before. Then you can do the actual work it takes to do what you want to do.
Speaking of things people want to do, I’m still on the look-out for anyone who has a car they want to make into a tax deductible donation. For a hot minute there I thought a reader of this blog had come through with something, but evidently he changed his mind. So the plea still stands. This current move is probably the most expensive I’ve done in my life – and I once moved me and my then-wife from Japan to the USA. I think this is actually costing far more. So help with getting a car would be appreciated (and tax deductible). Write me at bw@hardcorezen.info if you’d like to discuss it.
Thanks!
As always donations (including micro-donations of as low as a dollar) can be sent to PayPal via this link.
Happy Kwanzaa!
Why Los Angeles of all places?
Because we love driving in traffic!
Because nothing is close to anything else!
Because of the generally great So Cal weather! (Tho I did have to scrape ice from my windshield last night leaving Glendora at 10 p.m).
Because if Gene Scott can establish a thriving spiritual center/media empire in L.A., so can I?
Because of Hollywood! And the Beach!
Because of the abundance of rich people who really need to learn to slow down!
Because L.A. has a long history of being the beachhead for many and diverse slices of the spiritual supermarket pie? Think Aldous Huxley attending the Hollywood Vedanta temple (located practically underneath the Vine St. offramp of the 101). Think Yogananda with his multiple estates in Mt. Washington and Pacific Palisades. Think Father Yod and the Source Family in the Sunset Strip and Topanga Canyon. Even Franklin Jones (Adi Da) got his start in a modest storefront bookstore on Melrose. There’s even some gigantic Buddhist place in the San Gabriel Valley with scads of expensive artworks and statuaries and stuff that you see as you whiz by on the 60 freeway wondering what heck the place was that you just whizzed by at 65 mph.
None of the above? Oh well.
Then I am humbly await hearing your thoughts on the “why LA of all places?” question…welcome back.
“When you start to understand the goallessness of Zen practice, goals like you have in business or in opening a Zen center start to make a kind of sense they never did before. Then you can do the actual work it takes to do what you want to do.”
I guess that’s where I lost it, understanding the goallessness of Zen practice. Seemed to me back when that the goal was to sit the lotus for 40 minutes without pain or numbness, preferably for many 40-minute intervals in a day, and at least on a few occasions for many days in a row. I still think that way.
Seems like it’s all or nothing, in some ways, but all or nothing is always about more than I can bear. I’m ok with that now.
Am I too late for the actual work it takes to do what I want to do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_AJifsE2eQ
Sitting for 40 minutes, with pain or without, is just practice. Having a goal is extra, so letting go of that is fine. According to Suzuki Roshi, taking this posture (zazen) is, in itself, enlightenment. The cake is already frosted. Take a bite!
“taking this posture (zazen) is, in itself, enlightenment” which is what Dogen says…I believed this too, till I realized I said it cause they say it. To not say it means you’re a newbie who doesn’t get it, yet. However, after some years of daily sitting I realize I’m just trying to pretend like I get this and believe it. It’s neither my experience or my personal gut belief. It doesn’t really make any sense. “Taking the posture” in my experience is boring and skipping it is like skipping putting on deo for the day. It’s far from an enlightening experience if I do or don’t do it. i would call it boring or not so boring.
Good luck, Brad…pulling for you. If only everyone on this blog lived nearby!
Seems like you get it just fine. Zazen can be incredibly boring. Or it can be really weird. Or some mixture of the above. The point I’m making here is that all kinds of experience can appear while sitting. But having some kind of experience is sort of a side effect. If you just sit, without any goal in mind, and you don’t attach to anything that appears, you are doing zazen.
In my tradition, we don’t place much emphasis on posture, so “taking this posture” can mean sitting in a chair, standing up, or even laying down. The point is just to do the practice without attaching to anything. I once said to Paul Majrzyk JDPSN (zen teacher), “Sometimes when I sit, it seems like I disappear, but everything is still there.” He said, “Your mistake is thinking this is some kind of great realization.”
So yeah, just do it, boring or not. That is zazen.
Thanks man…that helps…appreciate it 🙂
Mark never too late.
Samadhi in seven seconds. Send me $7 and I’ll tell you how. It’s better than sex or cocaine, and $7 is all it takes.
Some “enlightening” dharma talks by Steve Hagen, Norm Randolph, and others are available on the Dharma Field website. Recent talks are free, archived talks require membership. They are much longer than 12 minutes.
http://dharmafield.org/resources/talks/
Get your free words here. If you want the 12 minute talk, it’s going to cost you a couple of bucks.
Or you can have the Samadhi in 7 seconds for $7. Call now.
7 second Samadhi. Call me at 777-9311. Wake up now, only $7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgSMAzKx9tU
Enlightenment, what a racket. What’s next, Heaven?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H506K66A3xo
jump into the void …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy7FzXLin7o
This kind of reminds me what they used to say about The Ramones playing an hours worth of music in 45 minutes. Though that actually makes more sense, as one could theoretically measure the tempo your typical Ramones cut against that of 50 other famous rock bands… (I take it back. That’s stupid. The Ramones are obviously a pearl beyond price)
But how exactly does one measure the efficiency of a goaless practice? What do people expect from an hours meditation that this product is supposed to supply in one fifth the time? How do you know you’re getting your money’s worth?
This is why attempting to market spirituality is even more absurd than marketing material things. But damn if some people don’t try. (weird how completely artless the ads for some of this nonsense is though… it’s like something from the eighties. Most commercials for fast food and laundry soap these days are way more sophisticated than this.)
1st world problems. Stop with your bullshit and play me in a game.
https://gogameguru.com/i/2011/07/hikaru-no-go-play-go.jpg
Hi Brad, if you’re looking for funds to set up the center, why don’t you advertise your services as a minister of religion? You might make a decent living from doing zen weddings, funerals, memorial services, coming-of-age ceremonies, whatever.
I guess you don’t have a great ambition to be a preacher of platitudes for hire, and I’m sure you don’t want your Zen to be seen as a branch of the Soto Shu Family Funeral Business ™… but hear me out, I make this suggestion without any hint of sarcasm.
For one thing, conducting rituals is the accepted way of ordained religious people making a living in western society. In Asia, there’s takuhatsu, but I can’t see that working out in LA. Performing services for the community to mark the major transitions in life, and getting a fee in return, seems like a perfectly honourable takuhatsu equivalent to me.
Also, it’s an opportunity to introduce people to buddhist views in a way that’s relevant to their current circumstances.
And it’s a niche that the McMindfulness people have deliberately excluded themselves from.
I see a grand future for Warner’s Drive Thru Zen Love Chapel
Well thanks buzzard30!
GC, I had an encounter with one of the people who received transmission from Katagiri in 1989 in Ukiah. She seemed anxious about the California attitude toward Zen teachers (we don’t really need a teacher- we have Zen12!).
She mentioned that my breathing seemed loud to her, and asked the person who was sitting next to me if that bothered her. The person next to me responded that it didn’t, in fact she found the sound of my breathing to be relaxing.
Strange situation; I guess Katagiri’s Dharma heir had a right to be anxious, I was coming into the sitting after having read “Nothing On My Mind” by Erik Storlie. Erik spoke of cleaning up the garbage caused by the failure of some of the people at the Minneapolis Zen Center to properly close the garbage cans (raccoons or something had gotten into the cans); as he was cleaning up, Katagiri’s inner circle of disciples came by in their black robes and sandals, headed for a private meeting with the teacher. Erik, meanwhile, was not invited, in spite of his long participation at the Zen Center; seems there was an issue with his remaining in jeans (if I recall correctly), instead of adopting the robe and sandal (Erik only had one… I’m joking!).
Of course, the teacher who advised me my breathing was loud was not alone in telling me so, during that time period. At a Tai-Chi workshop in Santa Rosa, Ben Lo advised me that my breathing, which had become very pronounced after five minutes in one of the postures, might scare people. He said it with a smile; it seemed like he was telling me that I should not let up in relaxation, while at the same time he was encouraging my whole-hearted effort.
Ben has an advantage over the Zen teacher from Minneapolis; everyone can see pretty quickly where he’s coming from when he does Tai-Chi, because of the changes of posture in the form. Although it turns out to be the same with Zen, students seem to want more from Zen teachers.
Zen students have a confusion about where the practice really takes place:
“Yun Men showed his staff to the assembly and said, ‘The staff has changed into a dragon and swallowed the universe. Mountains, rivers, the great earth– where are they to be found?'”
(Blue Cliff Record case 60, trans. by Cleary & Cleary, pg 389)
Sometimes the Universe swallows the dragon
Shiny faces in 1989, the second half of the group who received transmission from Katagiri Roshi that year:
http://www.mnzencenter.org/image_gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1099&g2_serialNumber=2
No students, no teachers. Send Brad $7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEJh2FFUUoU
I found this guy’s blog today. He’s got an interesting take on some of the stuff that gets discussed here
http://dogenandtheshobogenzo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/zazen-true-and-false-continuous.html
Shinchan, from that blog, what do these aspects mean to you?
“To use the Dharma-Eye it must first be opened, and thereafter it must be skillfully developed and continuously actualized; this ongoing development and actualization is the keystone of authentic Zen practice and enlightenment, it is the art of Zen that Dogen calls sole-sitting (shikantaza, zazen-only).”
“Once we find the Way that arrives at Buddha, we leave the area of the common person immediately. The people that have mastered this Way are few.”
Brad, what does it mean to you?
Hi david s, I’m not sure that I agree with everything in the post I linked to – mainly I linked it because the writer seems to me to be offering a very different interpretation of Dogen and shikantaza to the views I pick up from some of the commenters here. My impression is that some people who practice Soto-esque zazen see the physical posture as everything: the author of the other blog (Ted Biringer) seems to give an opposite viewpoint – that ‘just sitting’ is mainly a metaphorical/mythopoeic expression, referring to deeply accepting reality in each moment while simultaneously responding correctly to it.
For me, both sides of the coin have to land face up… the physical sitting posture is important, but not everything. I’m interested to hear others’ views on this.
As for the two passages you quote, the first is from Biringer, the second from Master Dogen. Dogen’s writings are so layered and multi-faceted that even if I learned ancient japanese, and pored over the Shobogenzo for several lifetimes, any explanation I gave would be partial and inadequate. But a key point to me from the Dogen quote is just that ‘The Way’ is a way, rather than a destination: it arrives at Buddha, but it arrives at Buddha asymptotically/at infinity. Performing shikantaza (whatever that is!) is being on The Way.
The quote from Biringer is problematic for me. He seems to be interpret Dogen as a supporter of ‘Sudden Realization, Gradual Cultivation’ – which I associate with Rinzai or Sanbo Kyodan zen much more than with Dogen’s Soto School.
Although Dogen supports ‘just sitting’, and is usually thought to devalue kensho experiences, I’ve often thought that the story of how his teacher Nyojo affirmed him when ‘mind and body dropped off’ sounds a helluvalot like a sudden burst of kensho/satori. Maybe it does take a sudden insight to really ‘get’ that just sitting is already ‘it’? Dogen was on a lifelong all absorbing deeply questioning search for the truth that suddenly came to fruition. Is he really suggesting that we enter the stream just purely by adopting a pretzel-legged statue pose?
[Re the blog Shinchan linked]…
I’ve read a fair amount of what Ted Biringer’s written, particularly when he was a (more) frequent contributor to Zen Forum International. Ted is a very well-read, very intelligent bloke who’s been reading about, practising, blogging and commenting on Zen for a lot longer than I have.
As I hear Ted, Ted presents his Zen opinions and interpretations as the utterly reliable insights of a very well-versed Zen Buddhist, profoundly intimate with that of which he speaks; a Zennist who unquestionably gets it. And so I don’t trust him. Perhaps ‘I don’t warm to him’ would be a better way to put it. Despite the deep compassion Ted most likely credits as the motivation for his efforts (lately signing off his posts with “Please treasure yourself”), I hear the voice of someone who wants to tell us how right he is, not the voice of someone sincerely exploring and sharing his own reactions to stuff.
Of course, Ted may be a very nice guy. Ted may even be right. So ignore me – just the mirror principle at work I should imagine. Why else would I bother?
It’s interesting how we sometimes (constantly?) find little openings, insights, revelations, or thoughts of others that fit our view nicely, and feel that we can share this and it will somehow be meaningful and revelatory for others, and of course quite, often it isn’t. And it doesn’t matter how much homework we have done, how many footnotes we append, how smarty pants we sound, we can still come off as just wanting to be “right” about something, anything, and prove it goddammit!! Then all we are left with is this mountain of “proof” that we have spent hours and days and months and years pondering just to find, well, somehow now, right here, today, it doesn’t fit. But if we are so inclined on we go trying to cram ten pounds of crap into a five pound bag until we are utterly exhausted, disillusioned, defeated… And finally we surrender to the silence that has been there all along quietly supporting our efforts, wondering if we will ever notice? This patient awareness that pulses and throbs through everything unnoticed?..Who will notice this… this. … .. .
(Cheers and Happy New Year, Malcolm!)
And to you too, John.
I find it refreshing when people write with ‘authority’… even when I disagree with them. My opinions will have moved by tomorrow, but today I sincerely believe what I believe, and if ideas are worth expressing at all, surely they’re worth expressing with conviction.
All the relativistic postmodernist framing of everything we say or write with, ‘imho’, ‘in my reading of …’, ‘from my perspective as a eurocentric, lower middle class lesbian…’ comes across as a disingenuous ploy to sound educated and liberal: to me it reeks of narcissism rather than self awareness. This kind of political correctness is solipsistic and undermines attempts to take action based on real communication.
Zen people should eschew this kind of mealy-mouthed, humblebum crap. You are the law in your corner of the cosmos, act like it (imho)
Hey! I do that “As I hear it…” stuff and I ain’t no mealy-mouthed ‘Zen person’! Bloody cheek.
Shinchan wrote: “I find it refreshing when people write with ‘authority’ […] if ideas are worth expressing at all, surely they’re worth expressing with conviction.”
Authority? Hmm. Conviction? Meh…
I’m certainly in favour of expressing ideas with clarity.
– Shinchan continued: “All the relativistic postmodernist framing of everything we say or write with, ‘imho’, ‘in my reading of …’, ‘from my perspective as a eurocentric, lower middle class lesbian…’ comes across as a disingenuous ploy to sound educated and liberal: to me it reeks of narcissism rather than self awareness. This kind of political correctness is solipsistic and undermines attempts to take action based on real communication.”
See, I see it different. As I see it, acknowledging the provisional nature of ideas and opinions is less likely to provoke defensive posturing, miscommunication and trouble – in my experience…and in that of many of the contributors to this blog’s comment section, I’ll wager.
But you may have a point…
You also may have a point (but I’m no expert) 😉
Apparently there are suddenly an abundance of these quick-fix trix:
https://www.yahoo.com/health/health-hack-get-all-day-energy-with-this-simple-106547577727.html
It reminds me a bit of a short-lived one page “zine” titled Ltd Attn Spn I put together of basically one-liner sound bites and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not-style oddities, cartoons, and other rude things I could cut and paste (literally, young-uns) that represented the same concept as WGTT? That cynical cultural observation appeared circa 1985… Maybe a more apropos question might be What’s Changed?
But I love it. That’s the trick, love it all…as Nietzsche said back in 1882 (yes I cut and pasted this, who has time to type all that?):
“For the New Year–I still live, I still think; I must still live, for I must still think. Sum, ergo cogito: cogito, ergo sum. To-day everyone takes the liberty of expressing his wish and his favorite thought: well, I also mean to tell what I have wished for myself today, and what thought first crossed my mind this year,–a thought which ought to be the basis, the pledge and the sweetening of all my future life! I want more and more to perceive the necessary characters in things as the beautiful:–I shall thus be one of those who beautify things. Amor fati: let that henceforth be my love! I do not want to wage war with the ugly. I do not want to accuse, I do not want even to accuse the accusers. Looking aside, let that be my sole negation! And all in all, to sum up: I wish to be at any time hereafter only a yea-sayer!”
Good old Nietzsche! There’s a man who doesn’t mince his words.
Sherwin Nuland:
“When you recognize that pain — and response to pain — is a universal thing, it helps explain so many things about others, just as it explains so much about yourself. It teaches you forbearance. It teaches you a moderation in your responses to other people’s behavior. It teaches you a sort of understanding. It essentially tells you what everybody needs. You know what everybody needs? You want to put it in a single word?
Everybody needs to be understood.
And out of that comes every form of love.
If someone truly feels that you understand them, an awful lot of neurotic behavior just disappears — disappears on your part, disappears on their part. So if you’re talking about what motivates this world to continue existing as a community, you’ve got to talk about love… And my argument is it comes out of your biology because on some level we understand all of this. We put it into religious forms. It’s almost like an excuse to deny our biology. We put it into pithy, sententious aphorisms, but it’s really coming out of our deepest physiological nature.”
I’m with anon 108 on that particular Biringer post, I’ve read things from him that addressed his understanding in a way that engaged me but that one does not.
Coming to one’s senses can be necessary in order to breathe, and those who are open to knowing what they need to know as they need to know it in order to breathe sooner or later discover what is beyond the senses right where they are. Some kind of dragon swallowing the universe, where nobody’s home.
To the extent that what is beyond the senses right where I am is necessary, friendliness is necessary, compassion is necessary, sympathetic joy is necessary, and equanimity is necessary. Sucks ’em right in, spits ’em out, pity the Roshi.
“from my perspective as a eurocentric, lower middle class lesbian”. WTF is that?
Biringer is always pissing on people’s Zen parades, but when you look at the words, do you see any description of personal insight or merely a reiteration of
cliche’d thought?
“but when you look at the words, do you see any description of personal insight or merely a reiteration of
cliche’d thought?”
Look who’s talking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vomQXLbLFw4
Merry New Year, freakin’ buddhologists one and all! Here’s another random link from the interpipes that some might find intrstn
http://www.academia.edu/2233012/The_Existential_Moment_Re-reading_Dogens_Theory_of_Time
Mark Foote, thnx 4 the music
This out-of-time-sequence-reply posting is really confusing…
Time-wise, the penultimate post to Mumbles’s previous (at the time of writing) was Shinchan’s reply (Jan 4th @9.48am) to david s’s enquiry (Jan 3rd @11.57pm) concerning the views expressed by Ted Biringer on his blog (referenced by Shinchan, Jan 3rd @11.11pm):
Shinchan wrote:
“[…]
The quote from Biringer is problematic for me. He seems to be interpret Dogen as a supporter of ‘Sudden Realization, Gradual Cultivation’ — which I associate with Rinzai or Sanbo Kyodan zen much more than with Dogen’s Soto School.
[…]”
Spot on. That’s been Ted’s mission for many years – to prove that Dogen has been consistently misunderstood and misrepresented by the (latter-day) Soto mob, and that Dogen practised and taught koan introspection –> kensho.
This is from ZFI, 2010:
______________________
“Shonin wrote: ‘And why does this not seem to correspond to the ‘just sitting’ emphasis of contemporary Soto Zen?’
Ted Biringer replied: ‘Because Dogen’s Zen is something that is much different than almost all forms of contemporary Soto Zen.’
I hope this is helpful.”
To which (Rev) Nonin Chowaney, ZFI co-founder and resident Soto priest, replied:
‘Your comment is not helpful at all, Ted. Those of us who practice and teach Soto Zen are quite clear that… (&c).
________________________
– lots more where that came from:
http://www.zenforuminternational.org/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=5339 (and elsewhere)
But who’s got the time, eh?
“from my perspective as a eurocentric, lower middle class lesbian”. WTF is that?
Biringer is always pissing on people’s Zen parades, but when you look at the words, do you see any description of personal insight or merely a reiteration of
cliche’d thought?
If Ted was enlightened and could speak from the unknowing, would the words
follow from the way they are customarily presented on his blog?
If a person spoke from the unknowing would the words reflect some aspect of
non-duality? Can words reflect non-duality?
Without examining Dogen’s writings, does time exist in enlightenment?
Who’s got the time? Probably who exists in time, and a 12 minute meditation is
for a who that wishes to continue to exist in time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lvigp8lzvs
bubba
“but when you look at the words, do you see any description of personal insight or merely a reiteration of
cliche’d thought?”
You said it twice… I saw it the first time.
You’re reiterating.
I’ve got the time. Back to my job tomorrow after the luxury of a long holiday, so I’m spending today doing what I love most of all -arguing with buddhists on the internet.
Actually, I’m thinking of defecting to ZFI… it’s too hard to get a proper catfight going here – somebody with a sense of humour always butts in to defuse the hostilities!
Thanks, Shinchan, glad you liked the music!
I agree, anon 108; I wish that Brad would set the number of nested comments on his WordPress site to 0, and set the number of links allowed to 3. Thank you Brad; thank you Stone Mirror.
For those who don’t want to wade the whole article that Shinchan last posted, the abstract:
http://www.academia.edu/2233012/The_Existential_Moment_Re-reading_Dogens_Theory_of_Time
And here’s the hocus-pocus of the locus of existential points:
“It is also shown how this reading leads to an innovative treatment of the concept of selfhood, viewing the self as the active openness of an existent to the surrounding world, with which it is able to identify through a mutual relation with other existents within the existential moment. ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGTkIdlXoXQ
Let’s talk about one foot in front of the other, and how that is possible for a caterpillar like myself, shall I?
Holy sh!t, two links in one post. I will split them, and apologize if the dupe shows.
Maybe Stone Mirror will have to look at my post, and will understand the urgency with which we wish for his hands to reach in and dink the nesting of comments and especially the number of links (you are getting very seeply, Stone Mirror, I am going to hypnose you, you are in full control of Brad’s blog, you can change these settings, he will love you with full understanding in the light of your existential nature, Ted also gives you this Soto koan whose solution you must demonstrate on the backend of this blog before you can really say you are a part of the Santa Cruz do-it-yourself parade).
Sorry. Where what why.
Part 1:
Thanks, Shinchan, glad you liked the music!
I agree, anon 108; I wish that Brad would set the number of nested comments on his WordPress site to 0, and set the number of links allowed to 3. Thank you Brad; thank you Stone Mirror.
For those who don’t want to wade the whole article that Shinchan last posted, the abstract:
http://www.academia.edu/2233012/The_Existential_Moment_Re-reading_Dogens_Theory_of_Time
Part 2:
And here’s the hocus-pocus of the locus of existential points:
“It is also shown how this reading leads to an innovative treatment of the concept of selfhood, viewing the self as the active openness of an existent to the surrounding world, with which it is able to identify through a mutual relation with other existents within the existential moment. ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGTkIdlXoXQ
Let’s talk about one foot in front of the other, and how that is possible for a caterpillar like myself, shall I?
The hocus-pocus of the focus of words creates the illusion of a locus of self. A self
that puts one foot in front of another, when it doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
bravo
Just in time.
Who’s got the time?
If you never take your time, how can you have it?
from my perspective as a canadacentric, lower middle class nonlesbian
let’s argue
yes, you can do zazen sitting in a chair following the long breath and short breath
it takes a bit of time
“Nan Chuan said to his community, ‘The seven hundred eminent monks on Huang Mei were all men who understood the Buddha Dharma. They did not get his robe and bowl; there was only workman Lu who did not understand the Buddha Dharma– that is why he got his robe and bowl.”
(Blue Cliff Record, case 61, trans. Cleary & Cleary pg 397)
Lu did, however, overhear zen12 as he was in the market one day.
“Yun Men said to the community, “Within heaven and earth, through space and time, there is a jewel hidden inside the mountain of form. Pick up a lamp and go into the Buddha hall, take the triple gate and bring it on the lamp.”
“…Some people acknowledge the radiant shining spirituality as the jewel, but they cannot make use of it, and they do not realize its wondrousness. Therefore they cannot see it in motion and cannot bring it out in action. An Ancient said, ‘Reaching an impasse, then change; having changed, then you can pass through.'”
(ibid case 62 pgs 400, 402)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwsMLrKqDbY
this was known as zen12+ out-of-time-sequence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1YHRhFr5A
man, this shit is heavy… couldn’t just be the double-gate, no…
“Within heaven and earth, through time and space, therein is a jewel; it lies hidden in the mountain of form. It is hung on a wall, for nine years Bodhidharma did not dare to look at it straight on. If any (of you) want to see it now, I will hit (you) right on the spine with my staff.”
(Ibid, case 62, pg 403)
Who can argue with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGRHEVMrac
time out. Admit it, Fred: you can’t look at it straight on. Might as well swim through white foamy waves flooding the skies on level ground, as to look straight on at the long and short of breath; at least people will believe you! time in…
I used to read every post carefully without bringing in my biases or a sense of “I-me-mine” as a barrier.
However, now I realize this cyclical and constrained game. Even a Go game is far more expansive and infinite than the babbling of you imbeciles.
Fred is the worst of all. I don’t even think Brad would be able to get along with him in real life.
Just chill with your “selfless proselytizing” and get real.
oh yes Mr An3drew, you’re so right, oh yes, it’s murmuring in the gum trees, oh
oh, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, it’s so enchanting and illuminating
“I used to read every post carefully without bringing in my biases or a sense of “I-me-mine” as a barrier” horseshit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hcZ4s9cvpw
shake it, don’t break it
hidden in a mountain of form
hitting an impasse
like the eye of a needle
change and slither through
the babbling of imbeciles
oh yes.
Congratulations, SamsaricHelicoid, you’ve finally worked us all out. Proceed directly to HardcoreMehvleviSufism.net for round 2, and to collect your prize.
Just to confirm, you correctly guessed that:
Fred is Brad Warner’s alter ego, that he uses as bait to get us to write content that boosts his google rank.
Leah is Brad too.
I’m an AnnoyBot developed by Apple Corp for the Norks, being beta tested on the zen blog.
Mumbles is Minkfoot’s lover. They exchange encrypted sonnets as dead links to utube vidz
justlui, anon 108, and proulx michel are the same lady.
Mark Foote is a real human being who actually came here to discuss zen (poor sod)
…and I am a winged monkey!!!
of course you are! knew I forgot someone. my circuits is a bit fried
You forgot me, too. Boo hoo, I don’t exist.
I didn’t forget, I just despise you… and all the other centaurs too
…that’s about the ins and outs of it all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcrUuCDFLOQ
Fred is just a brain dead idiot from too much drug abuse who can’t form a relationship for more than a couple of years. His stereotypical tastes in music also make him a mush brained. He’s not capable of forming any friendship unless involves people agreeing with his constant babbling bullshot. He’s too much of a piece of shit to be Brad Warner’s alter ego.
Even shit is more useful than him because it can be composted.
He’s just a broken robot that is better off not existing. His mere existence is proof the universe is inherently irrational.
He should take the gun to his head while continuing to babble his nonsense and discreetly insult others. I am very direct when I insult people because I don’t hide my intentions, while Fred is worse than a fox in how he slyly dishes his insults out. People like him are what have contributed to the decadent state of Zen. I bet he can’t even play a game of Chess, Go, or video game without bringing in his babbling bullshit or discreetly insulting someone because of his background.
Hey, Fred, if you ever have suicidal impulses, come to me. I’ll tell you the best decision to make, piece of shit. People like you do nothing but waste resources and are better off gone. Think about it. I won’t need to think about Israel bombing Iran (as he told me in the past), if you’re dead Fred because then you can’t go around saying such hurtful things to others and acting innocent.
I’m not innocent and I am direct, unlike you, and I genuinely you hope die painfully while thinking mournful thoughts of your incompetence. Incompetence while feigning success = what you are.
Also, if what I’ve said hurts you to the points of suicide, Fred, I could live with that on my conscience.
It’s how much I hate you for being a sly piece of shit. You’re nothing but a fake.
Anyways, continue slyly acting innocent while you say even worse things like, “Israel should nuke Iran,” or shit like that. I’m sure the grave is the only place some piece of shit like you can feel welcomed in.
I’m okay with everyone else’s babbling, but I generally think Fred is a destructive and hypocritical person. I’ll stop posting here because of him, but if I ever want to get pissed off, I’ll click any of Brad’s posts to read Fred’s babbling. He practically posts the SAME things on all* of Brad’s posts ad nauseum. What a caustic piece of shit. Does he have a life to constantly comment on each of Brad’s posts?
Something about the way you act, Fred… it makes me go insane. I have dealt with some characters in my Zen Center and other trolls on the Internet, but you… you’re one of the only people I genuinely think… is better off fading away into the darkness.
You’re one of the few people I have ever said this to. I won’t post anymore. I have more important things to do than to deal with your sly attacks and constant mocking of others. I dislike people who are not upfront, such as Fred. They ruin the need to even comment because they’re quick to criticize any contrary view that doesn’t conform to their biases, and then slyly personally attack others while acting they intended no harm.
*sigh*
It would be better if I could delete posts. Fred seems like the vindictive type who might try to track my name and hurt me. He does know my full name too.
I kind of regret this. I really, really don’t like you, Fred. I’m an educated person who got my degree in Neuroscience, and I have a wide range of interests. I’ve done Shikantaza for a long time and do Hua Tou, yet this can’t stop my seething hatred towards you. Maybe I am doing something wrong.
I genuinely wish you die, but I’m not going to act upon it because I have my own life to live. So yeah, just leave me alone and stop responding to me.
I just want to apologize to Fred. I was still holding a grudge when he said, “You should reflect on when Israel will bomb Iran.” It was just unpremeditated, unwarranted response. I don’t wish death on anyone, but I have endured a lot of abuse for my racial background due to going to a redneck school, so when people say purposefully hurtful things about my heritage, I go haywire momentarily. I sincerely apologize. I never received an apology from Fred for such a hurtful remark while he still acts as if he is in access to the Dharmakaya which is about compassion without separation of subject/object.
I got beat up while people encircled me saying “bomb Iran, make lake Iran”. Even though I look indistinguishable from Germans, my accent has given me hell in America.
I want to also say that Iran is not a bad country. It is #1 in Stem Cell Research, and it was not involved in 9/11 unlike Saudi Arabia. USA is allies with Saudi Arabia and 15 of the 19 hijackers for 9/11 were Saudi; there is also evidence, I can give, that the Saudi government was involved in 9/11. The reason USA is allies with them is because it wants to destabilize Iran. It does not want Iran to join BRIC and instead wants it to be under control by OPEC and UN, most likely.
Also, Iran and Persia are the same thing. Persia and Iran are just two different ways of referring to the same country. People think Persia was some exotic kingdom has now faded away or something. They don’t realize Persia is the Greco-Roman word for Iran, and Iranians always referred to the country as Iran (pronounced E-RUN). This is like Germany asking to be referred to as Deustchland starting now, and people questioning why Germany disappeared, ignorant of the fact Deustchland is just the German for Germany. There is a lot of ignorance surrounding my country that makes people say hurtful things.
I’m going to stop posting and focus on my other obligations/objectives. I apologize and take responsibility.
SamsaricHelicoid, I appreciate that you now only wish that Fred may meet his maker sooner rather than later and refrain from indicating your personal willingness to initiate the process if the maker fails in what you perceive to be the dispensation of timely justice to such as Fred.
I have learned some things from your postings, and I will look forward to your return. As to Fred, I have learned some things from his postings, and I will look forward to his return. As to me, flying monkeys belong in the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, not here among the many alter-egos and bots of Brad’s blog, and so I must melt in to the darkness, except that Fred is already occupying the nothingness corner of the blog.
I’m so confused.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMTXA2f3kVA
SamsaricHelicoid, Loving Mysterion is better for you than hating him..
I mean Fred. Did I say Mysterion? I meant Fred. I’m so confused…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa-FhzE2AAw
I’ve done Shikantaza for a long time and do Hua Tou, yet this can’t stop my seething hatred towards you. Maybe I am doing something wrong.
…like clicking ‘post comment’ perhaps?
“‘Both torpor and excitation were condemned by the former sages. When sitting quietly, as soon as you feel the presence of either of these two diseases, just bring up the saying, “A dog has no Buddha-nature.” Don’t exert effort to push away these two kinds of disease — just be peaceful and still right there. Over a long time, as you become aware of saving power, this is the place where you gain power. Nor do you have to engage in quiet meditation— this itself is meditation”
When you feel the seething hatred arising towards Fred, do you say ” a dog has no Buddha nature “, or do you repeat some other phrase?
May I recommend the phrase ” Fred is a dog who has no Buddha-nature”
Hua Tou
I thought that Mysterion died years ago. Or was that just his little dog with the Japanese name… Sushi? Moshi? Tiramisu?
Hi SamsaricHelicoid, it sounds like you had a really hard time because of your ethnic origin. That’s sad.
I can back up part of what you said. The various Iranian and Iranian-origin people I’ve met in my life have all been consistently friendly, polite, educated, straightforward and honest – I can’t think of any other nationality or culture that’s given me such a positive impression. I guess that in a long-lasting civilisation, a lot of the rough edges get rubbed off of people’s behaviour and attitudes.
But maybe you can find a way to be more tolerant of us barbarians? I’ve got no idea what Fred’s roots are, but personally I find a lot of what he writes here amusing, even the nasties. Some cultures thrive on dark, biting humour and trading personal insults – it’s a psychological defence against the effects of multi-generational oppression and poverty – and it can seem deeply sick to outsiders. Some examples of groups who’ve got their own unique take on it: Poles, Irish, Jews, Somalis, Russians, Scots, Southern Italians.
I read Fred’s comments as being this type of off-colour banter, which has no real intention to cause harm.
It sounds to me like the beating you got from racists has been traumatic, and Fred’s comment has re-triggered the associated feelings. Can I offer some advice, based on my own experience? (And sorry if I’m off the mark)….
… Feeling black rage is totally natural and healthy when you’re getting physically attacked by a gang. But if you don’t find a way to resolve the feeling once you’re out of immediate danger, it can seriously mess up your life. This world is full of Freds: you only harm yourself by having a hate button that they can press.
You’re most basic survival instincts have been challenged, and your rational intelligence will get overridden every time the memory is triggered. As a neuroscientist, you will already know this – the limbic system takes over, and ordinary, cortically-mediated self-soothing and calming stops working. You need to interact with a professional therapist to solve this: nothing else works: not avoiding triggers, and not even zazen (for various reasons). There are loads of therapies out there proven to help with trauma of this kind, if you can afford it, do it: EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Bioenergetic Therapy, TRE are some things you could look into.
It’s not that Fred’s right, or that there’s something ‘wrong’ with you. It’s about valuing your peace of mind enough to take action.
Hope you don’t stop posting because of this, I’ve found a lot of your comments stimulating.
I should add, don’t give up on your zen practice even if you try therapy.
Zazen is great: but additional help is required with a particular few of the challenges we can face in life.
I was raised by drunk Irish barbarians. They threw me down a treacle well when I
was five, and the dog use to urinate on me. It didn’t know any better, not having
Buddha nature and all that.
When I got older I climbed out of the well and got some Reichian therapy. It
helped to disassemble the anger that I was storing in my body as armour. After
came McMindfuless, and then Zen12. Next up was the jewel hidden in a mountain of form, and the breakers of the void washing over the illusion of self.
Begorrah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xTsShIUx1Q
I will indulge Samsaric in some attention. I don’t know if he is sincere and damaged, or just trolling for attention, but he sure does crave center stage. The inconsistency over the history of his posting makes it difficult to take him seriously.
Samsaric, you are not the only immigrant here who can gripe about jingoistic mistreatment, but you are the only one implying mistreatment on this very blog. I don’t see it, but for what you create. Personally, I think you should give up giving up on humanity and sit at the table as an equal amongst equals. Otherwise, you will just be ignored.
“Some cultures thrive on dark, biting humour and trading personal insults — it’s a psychological defence against the effects of multi-generational oppression and poverty — and it can seem deeply sick to outsiders. ”
I don’t respect it. People in such cultures are not capable of waking up. They are better suited for something like Asatru or Odalism rather than Ch’an, Zen, Sufism, or even Gnostic forms of Christianity.
It’s not compatible with Ch’an practice.
There’s a Sufi saying about how one should serve guests with hospitality without barking questions about where they’re from or trying to gauge their “competence”. If one is not capable of serving a guest with no judgment or no expectation of a benefit, then they are better off not following the traditional path of the Dharma. There are other traditional paths that can suit them more, like I’ve mentioned.
If you cannot treat a guest with hospitality or without the subject/object dichotomy, then quit practicing. It’s not in your bodily makeup to even approach this.
If all Fred is good at is repeating the same things ad nauseum as a way to give the impression he’s got it, and then he attacks another’s heritage when he or she inquires into what he’s really saying… then he should leave Zen. He’s just approaching Zazen in a very bourgeois manner and then rationalizing his experiences on the cushion by using a source of authority’s quotes. None of his experiences are genuine because he can’t speak from spontaneity or from his own experience, for everything he says is already boxed up and if you question it, he will personally attack you.
I don’t know, I’m done with the Zen scene. It seems most people are not concerned with truly changing but rather culturally appropriating Chinese and Japanese traditions, thus losing what their goal was originally about. I would rather see the Neo-Pagan movement grow in the West because I think people tend to get that more than Eastern traditions. 90% of the time Westerners seem to bastardize the Eastern traditions for their own amusement, whether unconscious or conscious.
Zen?
Zen?!
There is no Zen here. Neither a jot nor a tittle.
You must have the wrong address.
This website only sells “Hardco Rezen” (pronounced “hard-ko rez-in”).
Totally different, but I can understand how one could make that mistake.
“If you cannot treat a guest with hospitality or without the subject/object dichotomy, then quit practicing. It’s not in your bodily makeup to even approach this.”
This is oddly true! Swear I’ll change, when I have absolutely exhausted all other avenues and am forced out of necessity to do so– where do these white foamy waves flooding the skies on level ground break?
“…Some people acknowledge the radiant shining spirituality as the jewel, but they cannot make use of it, and they do not realize its wondrousness. Therefore they cannot see it in motion and cannot bring it out in action. An Ancient said, ‘Reaching an impasse, then change; having changed, then you can pass through.’”
“Cannot see it in motion and cannot bring it out in action”–
“Hi Mark, so I tried your practice last night (Waking Up and Falling Asleep). My ideal sleep time should be from 10PM-6AM
I woke up at 4:30 AM, after a quick drink of water. returned to bed and tried your practice.
I hope I did it correctly, I was somewhat surprized that my mind moved around quite a bit. not fast, but in slow motion the awareness would shift, from left cheek to right side of torso etc. The end result was a light sleep state, but I was glued to the bed and then woke up exactly at 6AM, feeling refreshed like I had a complete 8 hours of sleep.
If I am able to gain control over my sleep that would be very significant step for me indeed. Could you please provide some feedback if I did it correctly?
All the best, humbleone”
Wanna see where you are in motion… wanna see it again? Bring me the legs, torso, and head on the light.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kld1u3kntYQ
If you can’t hand tea to someone without thinking of yourself as being in opposition to him, or quiescent the mind to realize one mouth is drinking, then look at another traditional path. If you’re always comparing yourself to another, even when bowing, and trying to gauge who is more realized or not, then look at something else too. This isn’t a path about following a seer who will always be on the top or so.
And if you view race, ethnicity, or nationality as having determinate characteristics, as being self-existent, like you are serving the “Other”, like limbs that are severed, then this practice isn’t for you. If you value your subjective taste of the tea as being more special than the person who is sipping his own, then give up. You’re more suited for something like living up to a heroic ideal or molding your life into some kind of narrative victory or something, such as Yukio Mishima. Mishima’s views are not compatible with Zen/Ch’an.
People are just making fun of the mirror with their judgments. They can’t sip tea without putting their opinions to the side. Even after sipping the tea, they will go into endless babble mode while the guest is just trying to relax and look outside the mirror at the birds. If you can’t understand how your guest is more Buddhist with wanting to looking at the birds outside the mirror while you babble, then give up. It’s not in you to awaken to the Tathagata, sorry.
We are playing. Here’s a new Hua Tou for ya: ‘Why can’t I play?’
“Our form now being no-form,
in going and returning we never leave home.
Our thought now being no-thought,
our dancing and songs are the
voice of the Dharma.”
How about a bit of a palate cleanser? Let’s dump on Zen12 and cultural media depictions of meditators in meditation.
A few years ago, I began to notice the way meditators are depicted in the media. Overwhelmingly, they are depicted in the cross-legged pose called Indian-style (meaning, I believe, American Indian) – you know, knees up, feet under the thighs, legs crossed at ankles or elsewhere. Additionally, meditators are shown with arms stretched over their knees, palms up, thumb and forefingers making a circle while the three other fingers are outstretched. The eyes are closed, while a beatific smile, subtle or extreme, plays upon the lips. The one person in the Zen12 video sitting in anything like a meditation posture is sitting the same way.
Google the images for “meditation” or “meditator” for examples. I can’t imagine sitting that way for more than twenty minutes, say, without experiencing enough discomfort to distract. Is the media doing a disservice to potential practitioners by offering this visual model for emulation? Has anyone here had experience sitting like that? Is it possible to maintain the requisite straightness in the lower back with the knees in the air?
How did this become the default media depiction, anyway? There’s certainly lots of Buddha images around and none of them are like that. I’ve read that Buddha statues were the first form of Dharma to enter China, around the first centuries B.C. and A.D. Texts and teachers came about a hundred years later. The statues caused intrigue for the air of calmness and spiritual strength they projected, and helped prepare the Chinese mind for the arrival of the verbal Dharma. Is there some kind of attitude in the media that that’s the way Buddhas sit, but we should sit Indian-style?
A cursory search for meditation instruction in yoga sources didn’t bring up anything about the finger positions, though I remember images like that of Hindu yogis from my childhood. There’s specific use for such a mudra in systems of pranayama, but the beginning instruction pages suggest the hands be put in the lap or flat on the knees. I guess it just looks too cool for graphic designers not to use the finger circles.
In Boundless Way Zen, practitioners are offered a relaxed, palms-down hands-on-knees alternative to the zazen mudra. A Chan monk said that that pose leaks much more chi, though I find it useful for a few minutes before settling into the usual hand posture.
Even the Buddhist rags have photos of people in such postures. Oh, and one would get the impression that most meditators are young, trim, female, blonde, and pretty.
There’s a bunch of photos Google throws up of men in business suits, sitting cross-legged. With shoes on. Someone is just not getting what relaxation is.
http://www.energyenhancement.org/BusinessMeditation.jpg
Thanks for the palate cleanser, Minkfoot. Like eating a crisp tart apple after heavier foods…
The mudra of palms up, thumb and forefinger in a circle, back of hands on knees is actually quite common in some yoga circles. It’s as if the meditator is projecting energy, as opposed to preventing its “leakage”. Anyway I tend not to like it so much myself. I’m more of a hands face-down-resting-on-knees-kind-of-a-guy myself. An occasional tug at the knees during meditation re-curves the natural lumbar curve, which I notice tends to collapse when I sit still for “too” long.
As to “butt on the ground”, that’s just plain anatomically stupid. The pelvis needs to be higher than the knees – period, full stop. What were zafus invented for? I’ve sat on soft yoga blocks and find them to be quite comfortable. Folded-up blankets will do in a pinch. I’ve just discovered Samadhi ™ meditation cushions which are these high plush rectangular cushions that seem to be filled with “memory foam” – quite comfortable. Made by a company in Vermont that is affiliated with the Trungpa organization. I went to my local Shambhala meditation center and their meditation room was filled with these things on top of zabutons. Talk about spiritual materialism…wear a Zen12 and sit on a Samdahi and you might cut years off your spiritual search!
And alas, media depictions of meditators continue the cultural bias of young, trim, female, blonde and pretty. Except if they really were trim, they ought to be able to at least sit in half-lotus pretty easily!
They’re up in my neck of the woods. Good products. I patronize them for books, incense and the occasional zafu/zabuton. Dharmacrafts is another good source of well-made cushions, coming out of the Kwan Um people.
I don’t think that’s the kind of material Trungpa was talking about 😶
In the Rolling Stone article about Michael Roach, one person expressed hostility over Roach combining Yoga and Buddhism. This surprised me, as I always thought the asanas are a great adjunct to zazen. Has anyone else noticed a hostility to Yoga in the Buddhist world?
minkfoot,
Buddhist hostility to yoga? In my small corner of that world it has been the opposite.
Brad has yoga sessions at his retreat. His dharma brother Kevin Bortotlin takes yoga classes. And Greg Fain, who is a teacher with the San Francisco Zen Center says;
“The more I practice zazen (seated meditation) the more I realize how completely this is body practice, and how yoga supports the body to be present for the practice.”
From my own personal experience with the two practices is that they fit together very well. I suspect that anyone who is hostile towards yoga has another agenda running.
Cheers.
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/06/the-michael-roach-bubble/
“— As per usual, Roach uses the word “free” to describe his teaching products. Access through the front door may be free, but it’s certainly not free inside. The organization floats on a pre-modern sponsorship model in which donors are continually pressured for major contributions. “Free” is a way of obfuscating/romanticizing the real costs of a megalomaniac vision.
— “I’m not comparing myself to Jesus” — and then he does, alluding especially to Jesus’ heterodox actions. Then comes a terrible irony that makes me throw up a little in my mouth: Roach reminds us that Jesus’ troubles began over raising Lazarus from the dead, but of course his own troubles have sparked global interest because he is administratively and perhaps spiritually responsible for a man’s death. Roach is colluding Lazarus with Ian. But Ian’s corpse is not rising, except perhaps in the imagination of those who believe that he died in ecstasy. “[Jesus] brought Lazarus back from the dead, which I cannot do…” says Roach. Is this helpless Jesus somehow even more sympathetic?”
Generally not. Even Brad’s group and the local Shambhala group offer a once-a-week or once-a-month yoga class at their places. I do yoga (asanas) anyway. One of the original purposes of the yoga asana limb (though largely lost to the western world) is that all of it is basically to serve the purpose of being able to sit still comfortably. You know, preparation for meditation.
I did hear a story from a yoga teacher who went to a 10-day S.N. Goenka based Vipassana retreat and was told in no uncertain terms that absolutely no yoga asana was permitted at any time during the retreat. So that was kind of a stern attitude on their part.
I hear that one must agree to study no other teachings or do any other practice at a Goenka retreat, during the retreat. So that’s not that surprising. I can understand the rationale behind it.
I am properly chastized; I do like a good story, though. I will seek some other way, perhaps with my suit and shoes on sitting American Indian style listening to zen12.
Forget what I said about Andy. I didn’t mean it, AnneMH. Don’t listen to me, Broken Yogi. I’m outta here, boubi.
Can I have another cup of tea. I seem to have gotten my sleeve in the last one; do you have a hankerchief?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0OrZobhSQE
Jesus tap dancing christ what the hell happened over here? Ranty posting is fun, I get it (love it). I tore up that meditation reverend guy on here who wrote that anti-Hardcore Zen article a while back and it was fun! What’s funny is his name is Brain Warner. . . and he doesn’t like Brad Warner, and they both teach meditation. Ha!
But holy smokes. . .
Sammy Helicoid: “I don’t know, I’m done with the Zen scene.” Dude don’t quit it, own it. Just take it away from Buddhists and own it. That’s what I do.
Sorry, Brad, zen is mine now. My teacher was a badass lady that could easily beat you up. I win. Unless you take me up on the motorcycle zen center, then we can be on the same team and I will let you borrow zen for a while.
Mark Foote can wisely mediate and post great cuts from the Blue Cliff . . . all the rest of us should hold a fund raiser for Brad by duking it out proper. Zen Fights. It would smash Youtube and make millions. Fortune and glory!
“all the rest of us should hold a fund raiser for Brad by duking it out proper. Zen Fights. It would smash Youtube and make millions. Fortune and glory!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23JCkfYWIo
Yep, Fred gets it.
We are going to need a Costco sized supply of body grease though.