How the Universe Works...According to the Buddha: The Four Noble Truths

photo courtesy of saamiblog on Flickr

Once he made up his mind to teach, the Buddha had to get down to the business of explaining what he learned. The first sermon he gave is referred to as The First Turning of the Dharma Wheel...by people who give flowery names to things. In this talk, he expounded upon the truth of impermanence, the 12 Fold Chain of Dependent Origination, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Four Noble Truths. All of these make up the core of Buddhism, but the Four Noble Truths really set the framework for Life, the Universe, and Everything. 

These four simple ideas have been expounded upon, debated, and reinterpreted by Buddhist scholars, monks, and lay practitioners for millenia. In this article, I don't plan on trying to come up with some new version. Instead, I want to talk about two different interpretations that I find compelling in different ways. As always, take from each what you find meaningful and leave the rest. 

The first version I’d like to tackle is the more or less standard interpretation that many people come across in Comparative Religion Class. According to this translation the Four Noble Truths are:

1. Suffering or Life is Suffering

2. The Cause of Suffering or The Cause of Suffering is Attachment or The Cause of Suffering is Desire

3. The End of Suffering or Nirvana or Enlightenment

4. The Path or The Noble Eight Fold Path

I want to start by acknowledging the obvious which is that number two has a couple of different versions right there. As I was writing this, I started thinking of all the different ways I’ve heard this one and just started writing them down...not entirely sure why, but I think they are each meaningful in their own way. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The First Noble Truth in this version is a translation of the Sanskrit word dukkha which means suffering. Basically, the Buddha is saying that in this world of Samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, there is suffering.

The Second Noble Truth is the cause of suffering which is a translation of the Sanskrit term samudaya. Most folks will go on to say something like what I’ve added to Number Two which is that this cause is our attachments or desires or cravings. 

The Third Noble Truth is that there is an end of suffering which is Nirvana or Enlightenment. Here the Sanskrit word being translated is nirodha which means cessation. In this case, the Buddha was most likely pointing to the cessation of the cycle of endless death and rebirth.

And lastly, the Fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold path which is how we get to Nirvana. Just for the record, the Sanskrit term here is magga meaning path.

This is the way that most of us first hear the Four Noble Truths and this version leads many especially from the outside to label the Buddha as a nihilist and Buddhism as a nihilistic religion that basically says life sucks and then you die. I would argue that what is happening is an issue of language rather than nihilism. This is especially true for the Second Noble Truth which seems to be telling us that the very act of caring about anything causes suffering. The two problematic words here are “suffering” and “attachment”.

Suffering is a problem because we tend to attach a lot of weight to this word that I don’t feel like was in the original meaning the Buddha intended. We say things like “He’s suffering from depression” or “Children in third world countries suffer from malnutrition". I don’t think this is quite what the Buddha was driving at. 

Attachment is also an issue because we think it means that we can’t like or love something. In my opinion, the Buddha was pointing to our desire for things to stay exactly as they are and never change. We don’t want the good things to end or the bad things to come and so we suffer. We want our new Harley to never get a scratch and so we suffer. With all this in mind, here is the version that I tend to use:

1. Life is inherently unsatisfactory.

2. It is unsatisfactory because we want it to be different than it is.

3. The way to be less dissatisfied is to accept things as they are.

4. The Noble Eightfold Path is a way to make all this easier.

This version of Number One comes from an alternate translation of the words the Buddha actually used. Dukkha could be read as suffering, but it could also be thought of as unsatisfactoriness. So maybe the Buddha was trying to get across the point that we will be disappointed in our lives and here’s why. It’s also important to note that the Buddha was also pointing to “unnecessary” suffering. As the t-shirts and coffee mugs like to say “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”. 

Life is unsatisfactory because we can’t accept how it is. We want all the nice things and none of the bad. We want all the bright shiny things in our lives to never lose their luster. My favorite line on this idea comes from Dogen’s Shobogenzo. In the essay entitled “Genjo Koan” he says that “flowers while loved fall, weeds while hated flourish”. We can’t accept the weeds and so we suffer. 

Number Three points to the need for acceptance of things as they are. This doesn’t mean that we just stand idly by while bad things happen and do nothing. That mentality is one of the most irksome things that wannabe Buddhist try to adopt. They will attempt to have no preferences about anything because they think that’s what the Buddha meant. I believe that he meant for us to accept that things are the way they are and then do something about it. If someone brings me a shit sandwich instead of my tasty burger, I can suffer by getting all wound up about the situation or I can accept that this has occurred and then send the shit sandwich back with a demand for a better meal. Being Buddhist does not mean you have to be some kind of radical pacifist with no preferences.

Lastly, the Buddha gave us a path to follow in order to have less suffering and more peace or to put it in a more flowery way, to end suffering and attain Enlightenment. I personally don’t like to talk in these terms because A. I’m not entirely sure that there is anything that we can really call Enlightenment and even if there is, I don’t think it is something we can attain in the way you might attain a new car and B. when you start throwing around words like the big E, people get all confused and start coming up with all kinds of ideas and conceptions. Instead, I prefer to look at the Noble Eightfold Path as a guide for leading a life that facilitates Buddhist practice. When you follow the path, you simplify your life and remove the things that get in the way of practice. The same goes for the precepts. As Daiho likes to point out, the Buddha was only concerned with the end of suffering so if something didn’t help toward that end then it wasn’t worth doing.

So there you go. Two different versions of the foundational principle of Buddhism. Take a quick trip around the internet and you’ll find many more. As always though, what really matters is the version that you find meaningful and that has an impact on your life. Until you can make them your own, they are just words on paper spoken by someone who died 2500 hundred years ago. Once you make them your own, they become a living and vital part of your practice.

Gassho,

Daishin

Am I Doing It Right? - The Basics of Practice

photo courtesy of Eduardo on Flickr

One of the most common questions that any meditation teacher gets asked is “am I doing this right?” or “how do I know I am meditating correctly?” or some variation on that theme. Some teachers have answers for that. I don’t know that I do. What I will tell you is what my favorite author Brad Warner told me in one of his books, “if you’re doing zazen at all, chances are you’re doing it right.” Especially here in the West, we are so focused on doing things correctly. We expect there to be a specific measurable way of doing something that can be judged as good or bad, right or wrong. What if I told you that for Zen at least there really isn’t one...per se? You can judge the practice against a standard, but that standard isn’t necessarily correct in all cases, for all people, in all circumstances.

Matsuoka-roshi, my Dharma great-grandfather (my teacher’s teacher’s teacher) identified three aspects of practice, the posture, the breathing, and the mind. It is possible to say that you are practicing correctly when measured against these aspects, but his is just one framework of many. In my opinion, the real judge of practice is does it help you see more clearly into your true nature? With all that said, I’d like to take a few minutes to dig a little deeper into the three aspects of zazen in the Order of Clear Mind. Remember, these are more or less guidelines and, in most cases, I’m probably saying more than I should.

The posture: Some meditation teachers will tell you that any posture that is comfortable is the proper one. Some say that all the really matters is what you do with your mind. But is the mind really separate from the body? In Zen, we often speak of the body and mind as one not two or if not the same then at least directly affecting each other. The Japanese point to this body mind connection in their language. The word “shin” means both heart and mind and in Zen is often written as heart/mind pointing to the inseparable nature of the heart and the mind, the mind and the body. With this in mind, the importance of the posture in zazen is paramount. It allows one to remain upright and still while using as little effort as possible. And as the body settles becoming more and more still so does the mind. In the same vein, if the mind is unsettled, the posture has probably slipped. It is a balance between tension and relaxation, the middle way. Brad often remarks that zazen is a yoga class with only one posture that is held for a long time. Dogen encourages us to sit on our cushion as a king on his throne; with a sense of pride and dignity. So, it is with all this in mind that we take our seats.

The breath: Honestly, the less that is said about breathing the better as this is one of the aspects that people tend to obsess over. I know it can be for me. As much as possible, allow the breath to come and go as it will. If it is shallow, let it be shallow. If it is deep, let it be deep. Often, as we settle more and more into the practice, the breath becomes deeper, longer, and slower. One thing I will say about the breath is that it can be a powerful anchor for the mind. If your mind begins to wander, try counting your breath with each inhalation and exhalation getting a number. In, one. Out, two. And so on up to ten. If you lose count, start back at one. If you become distracted, start back at one. Sometimes you might spend an entire session just counting one two. That’s fine. Eventually, you can count only the in breath and after that, you can just notice the sensation of breathing. The most important part is don’t stop.

The mind: We can’t stop the mind from thinking. Its nature is to think. Daiho-roshi refers to the mind as a sense organ, a popular idea in Buddhism where the sixth sense is the mind itself and has nothing to do with Bruce Willis. As a sense organ, it takes in information and processes it, just as the eyes do with light and the ears do with sound. Brad often says that the mind excretes thoughts in the same way the stomach excretes acid and you wouldn’t want either to stop. Dogen encourages us to think non-thinking, but in this case what he means is something closer to consideration as in don’t spend your zazen time considering things. Just let the thoughts that arise, arise and pass away as they are want to do. Suzuki-roshi says to treat your thoughts like house guests. Let them come and go, but don’t serve them tea. As thoughts come and go, do not grab onto them. Use your time on the cushion for zazen, not for making grocery lists or planning a vacation.

If we follow these guidelines then by Matsuoka’s definition, we are doing it right. But even when we aren’t, we are still sitting, which is better than not. Vegging out on the couch...that’s probably a way to do zazen wrong.

Gassho,

Daishin

Your Shitty Job

photo courtesy of clement127 on Flickr

The title of this essay comes from a spoken word routine by Henry Rollins, the former front man for Black Flag turned commenter on all things alternative. In the piece, he’s talking about how awful it would be if TV mirrored real life. He remarks that the worst reality TV show would be called “Your Shitty Job” and it would just show someone sitting at a desk, looking bored, and occasionally sighing. Whether he meant to or not, Rollins brings up a point which is that all jobs at some point or another become just a j.o.b. as my mother likes to put it. I’m sure there are days that even the biggest Hollywood stars don’t feel like being on set or that video game streamers just don’t feel like picking up a controller. I imagine that even being an adult film star can “chafe” from time to time...sorry for the pun. We get romantic visions in our head of what such and such a job must be like, astronaut, race car driver, rock star, etc…, and then start to think that “if only” we had one of those kinds of jobs that we would be happy. Unfortunately, as one of the Ramones put it, being a rock star was a pretty good job, but in the end it also sucks just like any other job. 

Life decided to really slap me in the face with this concept not too long ago. I was out walking the dog trying to figure out what I was going to talk about for a dharma talk. I turned on Audible and randomly started listening to Hardcore Zen for probably the tenth time. Brad was in the middle of talking about how once he landed his dream job that he found it wasn’t as amazing as he thought. At that moment, it struck me that I was having a similar experience about leading a Zen group. Growing up around my uncle, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and also seeing other teachers and spiritual leaders, I painted a picture of what that life must be like. People come to you for advice and you get to dispense it while sounding all wise and profound. You don’t have to worry about money or schedules or any of that mundane stuff because you are the enlightened master. Fast forward a number of years and here I am trying to figure out what the hell I want to talk about each week. I still have bills and schedules and petty annoyances. You could argue that is because I’m just a nobody and that when you get to a certain level it all gets better, but my sense is that that just isn’t the case. Poor people have poor people problems, rich people have rich people problems, and spiritual people have spiritual problems. Jundo Cohen said to me once, “Isn’t it nice that you have just enough problems?”

When it comes to our vocations, I think the best we can do is to take the approach of doing our jobs to the best of our abilities while putting 100% of ourselves into the work. Focus on what you do and do it well. Enjoy the good stuff and try not to get too bogged down in the stuff you don’t like. When the Buddha said that all life is unsatisfactory, he didn’t specify whether he was talking about work life or personal life. He said all life. And just to be clear, I’m not saying that if something is REALLY wrong at your work that it shouldn’t be addressed or improved. I’m saying that a lot of our suffering and dissatisfaction comes not from things that are actually bad, but instead from the fact that things aren’t the way we wish them to be. And even if they are bad and need to be changed, we often put a lot of extra emotional energy into being upset about it before, during, and after we take steps to fix the situation. 

Dogen points out in the Shobogenzo that doing a job is one way to exercise free giving and to give back to those around us. So do your shitty job to the best of your ability and try to make the world at least a little bit better in the process. No matter how insignificant it may seem, everyone’s actions contribute to shaping the world in which we all live. 

Gassho,

Daishin

They’re More Like Guidelines Than Actual Rules - The Precepts

photo courtesy of Kate Haskell on Flickr

The title of this piece comes from the better-than-it-should-have-been movie based on a Disney amusement park ride Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. The main heroine, Elizabeth Swan, has struck a bargain with the infamous Captain Barbosa based on the terms of “The Pirate’s Code”. Barbosa proceeds to break their deal declaring that the code is more “guidelines than actual rules”. This is by far one of the best lines in the entire movie and it’s made all the better by Geoffrey Rush’s delivery. So why on Earth am I bringing up a swashbuckler movie at the start of a Zen talk? Because the idea that something is a guideline rather than a rule applies equally well to the Bodhisattva Precepts as it does to the Pirate’s Code...at least from a Zen perspective.

Before we dive in, a little historical background. When a community of monks and nuns formed around the historical Buddha, conflict inevitably arose, as it always does with people. His followers would ask the Buddha whether or not something as ok and then take his answer as a hard and fast rule regarding the specific issue. When he was dying of food poisoning, he told Ananda, his attendant and cousin, that people should keep the major rule and let the minor ones go. Unfortunately, he neglected to specify which rules were which and so we have many different lists of Buddhist Precepts today. 

Zen focuses on a list often referred to as The Sixteen Buddhist Precepts or sometimes The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts. There are a number of different versions of said list so I’ll give you two different versions. The first is from Zen Mountain Monastery and is more traditional in its framing of things in the negative though they try to add a little positive before the negative.

1. Take refuge in the Buddha

2. Take refuge in the Dharma

3. Take refuge in the Sangha

4. Do not create evil

5. Practice good

6. Actualize good for others

7. Affirm life – do not kill

8. Be giving – do not steal

9. Honor the body – do not misuse sexuality

10. Manifest truth – do not lie

11. Proceed clearly – do not cloud the mind

12. See the perfection – do not speak of others’ errors and faults

13. Realize self and other as one – do not elevate the self and blame others

14. Give generously – do not be withholding

15. Actualize harmony – do not be angry

16. Experience the intimacy of things – do not defile the Three Treasures

The second version that I want to present here is from the Cloud & Water Tokudo ceremony from the Order of Clear Mind Zen. Technically Jukai is the ceremony in which one first receives the precepts, but since that version is very similar to Zen Mountain and the “traditional” version, I thought I’d share this other one.

1. The first is to cease doing evil.

2. The second is to do good.

3. The third is to bring about abundant good for all things.

4. I vow to respect and be kind to all forms of life.

5. I vow to respect the possessions of others.

6. I vow to use my sexuality to nurture and enhance my life and the lives of others.

7. I vow to speak the truth.

8. I vow to feed my body and mind and those of others healthful and wholesome substances and materials.

9. I vow to be kind when I speak of others.

10. I vow to treat others and myself as equals.

11. I vow to be generous with what I possess.

12. I vow to sow and water seeds of love in my life.

13. I vow to value and honor the Triple Treasure: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

This version of the precepts leaves out the three refuges that are typically at the beginning and also writes each precept in the positive rather than the negative. I vow to do something rather than vowing not to do something.

The Zen Mountain version begins with the Three Refuges in which one takes refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. This action is very important, but a little outside of the scope of what I want to talk about so I’ll leave it for another time. Both versions then proceed with what are called the Three Pure Precepts. Everything else regarding Buddhist ethics can be seen as stemming from these three ideas, Don’t do Evil, Do Good, and Do Good for Others. Everything else is just refining these points.

The remaining ten lines are called the Ten Grave Precepts. I could write a talk about each one individually without any trouble especially if I included alternate versions. It seems like everyone who interprets these admonishments comes up with their own take. For example, the third grave precept about not misusing sexuality has also been interpreted as an encouragement not to desire too much. Then there is Bodhidharma’s take on them which is an entirely different head trip. That’s not the point of this talk. Maybe at some point I’ll dive into each one separately, but that’s another time.

The point I really want to make here is that the precepts aren’t hard and fast rules the way the Ten Commandments of Christianity are viewed. If you break a precept, no one is going to punish you for it. In fact, from a certain perspective, many of the precepts are nearly impossible to keep to the letter. We must kill something in order to survive whether that thing is animal, vegetable, or mineral. The precepts are best viewed as guidelines for Life that make it easier to practice. Just like the Noble Eightfold Path, when we follow the precepts, our lives become less complicated and thus we are able to devote more time and effort to our practice. To put it another way using my dirt in the glass metaphor, the more closely we are able to follow the precepts, the less dirt we are adding to our glasses as we navigate Life’s challenges.

It’s worth noting that knowing when a precept is broken is something we can easily discern for ourselves, but only about ourselves. Nishijima-roshi said that we have an intuitive understanding of what the right thing to do is in every moment. It’s just that our minds come in and start messing with that understanding. When it comes to other people, we really have no idea why someone has done what they have done so it is best to just to focus on ourselves and our own behavior.

With all that said, it is also extremely important to understand that we will break the precepts. What really matters is not whether or not we break the precepts. It is instead to notice when we have broken them and then renew our efforts to follow them. Sometimes we cannot help but become angry. When this happens, we add dirt to the glass and break the precept. But, in noticing that we have strayed, we can refocus our efforts back to the path of awakening. All in service of our practice.

Gassho,

Daishin

Introduction - What's it all about?

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Greetings to all of you that have taken the time to visit this blog!

I wanted to take a moment and talk a little about what this blog is or at least my current idea for it. My Zen teacher, Daiho Hilbert, suggested I create a place to begin publishing some of my writings. I have been writing on a number of different topics for a long time. Some Zen related. Some not. So this blog will serve as a collection point for my many ramblings and musings. Expect to see articles, stream of consciousness writings, poetry, haiku, and probably some other randomness from time to time.

Some of the writings that appear here will be the Dharma Talks that I give to my online meditation group. Other pieces will come from either current or past topics that have grabbed my attention tightly enough for me to devote some time to hammering out some words on a page.

In collecting pieces to post here, I stumbled across a long lost cache of work from all the way back in 2013. My intention is to not edit or modify these pieces, but instead to add to them with current commentary. In essence, Present Me will be commenting on the thoughts and ideas of Past Me. From a Zen perspective, these are two completely different people so it feels more interesting to have the current version comment on the previous.

As you read through these pieces, I hope you will find something that is of use or at least makes you think, laugh, cry, or have some sort of reaction.

If you would like to comment, please feel free.

If you would like to share something with others, please do so. All I ask is that you make sure to give credit where credit is due. I’d hate for someone to blame you for my craziness.

May this work enrich your life.

Gassho,

Daishin

July 23, 2020