DHARMA SPRING

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The whole world is clear and open
     throughout the ten directions
          There is no endpoint
And yet when we
     look carefully
          there is one after all
You fly out of this world
     looking backward
          riding the giant roc
into the hollow of a lotus thread
     to live where heaven and earth
          were never divided

                                        -Muso Soseki

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Being captured by something you see, and snapping a picture to capture it in return. A mirror placed in front of you, placing yourself in front of a mirror. Encountering others in silence, in conversation,  face-to-face, across the way. Mixing and mingling with the things of the world, outer and inner. Mirrors all. Reflecting and being reflected. Seeing and being seen. And in this seeing lies the spark of liberation, the spark of awakening.

"Once you know your mind and see your nature, you understand what is truly important." -Huineng

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A student asked Baizhang, "What is the most wonderful thing in the world?"

Baizhang answered, "Sitting alone on Great Courage Peak."

The student bowed, and Baizhang immediately hit him.

(Blue Cliff Record, Case 26)

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This talk is the second of series of talks being offered by Open Source Zen Teachers Sarah Bender, Roshi; Tenney Nathanson, Sensei; Megan Rundel, Sensei; and myself. The series, Dancing with Dark-Enigma, is still happening, and when all the talks have been finished and posted for listening I'll provide a link here, so please check back. For now, I am posting the talk that I offered, which focuses on the dancing aspect of Dark-Enigma, the primal and primordial movement and activity at its core, at the heart of it all. It's the activity and movement of the Dao itself, dancing along in its own way while giving form and life to many dancers and many ways of dancing. We are always intimate with it, regardless. And all the more intimate still, when we fall deeply into the ever-abiding rhythm, and just dance.

(Please note - the images referred to in this talk can be found here: http://www.bowandroar.com/dde-images.html)

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Here, at the turning of the year, we reflect, take stock, release what has been and welcome what is to come. And with a year such as 2020 has been (and continues to be), we might find ourselves more eager to than ever for the new year to be here, to hit the restart button and clear things out, with so that much that has been heavy and dark and gloomy to put behind us. But there has also been brightness amidst this dark, aspects of life within and around us newly discovered and realized that we might not have encountered otherwise. As is always the case, there's not just one way about it, the perennial rhythms of things rising and falling, coming and going, bursting forth and fading away still very much at play, alive and well. And beneath and through it all there is something that flows and abides, around us and within us, holding and being held, never departing. not separate from the beings and doings of our day-to-day, yet not confined by or limited to them, either. Touching into and anchoring ourselves in it, joining with its abiding, we find ourselves being carried along and carried through, despite and because of it all.

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Encountering the vast freedom that abides deeply in and as the core of our being is our birthright, what each and every one one of us is here for and made for, regardless of our makeup, which path we walk, or the traditions and practices we engage in. This talk explores ways of encountering such freedom while journeying along the Zen path, via practices and experiences connected to the Koan Way. Ultimately, however, the way to know this inherent freedom isn’t contained in or limited to a specific path; it is encountered through what is readily at hand and always underfoot, via the unique path each of us walks in our own unique way. Where else could such freedom be found? 

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Our lives are naturally flowing along, on the move, in a continual state of change and transformation. On top of this natural process we often impose our own, commonly taking the form of imagining and reaching for a life we want to have, setting our sights beyond and even rejecting where we have been and where we are now. It seems we get so caught up in this project and so impatient with our lives that we stop noticing and even forget entirely that this very process is already underway of itself, with an invitation extended to join with it rather than control or dominate. And a first step for joining in the journey is stopping.

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Zen is essentially a deconstructive practice. Rather than building up and fortifying a different way of being to replace our current state, it is a path of dismantling and undoing the habitual, unhelpful patterns that lead us away and astray from the fullness of our lives and our being right where we are. To support our journeying along more deeply and authentically from right where we are, we become aware of and put a stop to the wayward journeys we engage in that block, stifle, and hinder us. In short, we stop, and this opens the way for us to truly begin.

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Upon his awakening, looking up at the morning star, Siddhartha said, “All things and I awaken together.” Our Guanyin Sutra says we are born with awakening and we grow with awakening. We take up a koan and find shining forth in our very lives now, intimately, the awakening experience of the person in the original koan encounter. Again and again, this awakening, stretching across millennia, one seamless thread. So, whose awakening is it? And who is awakening? 

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When someone or something doesn't show up or come forth in ways that are familiar and expected,  it can seem like something's missing and we might find ourselves at a loss. And yet a powerful opportunity is at hand here. Not limited by expectations and ideas of the way things should be allows us and others to discover more of what we have to offer, venture into new territories and abilities, and to step more fully into life, beyond the confines of our identities and labels and standard ways of being. Holding more loosely the ideas of who we are and what we're capable of, the possibilities are boundless, waiting to be discovered and embraced.

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