Mediation in Wilmington, Delaware - The Open Heart Zen Sangha - Circle Talk http://openheartzen.org/blog.html The Open Heart Zen Sangha: Circle Talk Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:39:34 -0800 Open Topic Thread http://openheartzen.org/blog.html/open_topic_thread http://openheartzen.org/blog.html/open_topic_thread Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:39:34 -0800 Mediation in Wilmington, Delaware - The Open Heart Zen Sangha - Circle Talk About "Circle Talk" http://openheartzen.org/blog.html/about_circle_talk http://openheartzen.org/blog.html/about_circle_talk Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:39:11 -0800 Mediation in Wilmington, Delaware - The Open Heart Zen Sangha - Circle Talk Zen is Not "Self Help" Part 1 http://openheartzen.org/blog.html/zen_is_not_self_help_part_1 Popular culture in the West is not a particularly clear teacher. Our taken for granted wisdom, nourished by so called "self-help" books, blogs, television programs, in a cruel irony, is actually not at all about the present.

The wisdom of so called "Self-Help" is like holding faith in a crystal ball that paints a gloomy future unless we achieve x, y, and z. Self-help culture is therefore not concerned with strategies for attending to the burning house that stands before us. It is only a manual for standing in the ashes. Even if we get the "hard abs," the chase is never over.

We never can be smart enough, happy enough, rich enough, kind enough: Self-help, from the popular Western perspective then has no use for the present.

The wonderful simplicity of Zen practice is it's utterly stubborn realism. Nothing is taken for granted. Every moment of our lives is to be studied. Every experience is a teacher.

The bedrock of all Buddhist practice is to understand the fundamental "impermanence" in all of life. Although it is commonly mistaken as a "special" Buddhist word, impermanence is anything but: Come Autumn in Delaware, the green leaves invariably turn brilliant reds and yellows. When winter comes those same leaves dry up and the tree is bare.

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We are so beholden to our emotions, especially anger and fear, that we will drain our bank accounts in search of a quick fix. With the internet it is, indeed, only a click away.

So it literally takes PRACTICE for a human being not to be automatically angry or afraid. We live so deeply in our thoughts, that we must literally UNlearn the lie that "We are not good enough."

This kind of practice should be very easy. After all, human beings are capable of miraculous feats of ingenuity. But it is not easy. When unpleasant feelings come, we can boot up our iPads. It is very strange that human beings are far more aware of the virtual (and its endless "apps") then they are of the simplest of realities.

Even when we do "stop to smell the roses," it's a weekend "getaway." There's nothing subtle about the escape words we habitually defer to: We are perpetually on the run from the present.

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To be sure, to practice being present is very, very difficult. There are so many habits of mind that condition our physical responses. We are so scared of the present that our flight response is locked, however, subtly into autopilot. We (without a hint of cliche) "know not what we do."

It is overwhelming to consider how most of us on our own can even begin to undo this deeply ingrained conditioning.

The beauty of sangha then is that we practice together to experience ourselves just as we are. To be together without any strings attached, so we can actually relax in the moment just as it is. That we must meditate is humorous if you think about it: We must actually practice sitting still. Yes our relationship to the present is quite infantile!

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To experience a breath of cold, clean air after a snowfall or, as is starting to happen with the end of Winter in Delaware creeping near, to watch the magnolia's branches begin to break with flower buds, is to partake in a relationship with the present.

Our so called "self-help" culture has estranged us so far from our physical surroundings that we literally have to motivate ourselves to acknowledge a tree.

The rewards of practice are to live our lives not "for today" but IN the day.

The past is over, the future is always uncertain. The only question that remains then is clear : What can we do now? As a teacher would always say: practice, practice, practice.

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