Way of Oneness: A Sangha Podcast

Excerpt:

At the heart of the teaching of impermanence is conditioned existence but what is conditioned existence?

Conditioned existence is the reality that all phenomena, all things that exist  arise in dependence upon other phenomena: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist" 

This is the heart of impermanence of all - because all things all phenomena arise out of conditions and when the condition causes it to arise, cease then, that which arose, vanishes or transforms into something different.   That is way the Buddha says,

“All conditioned things have the nature of vanishing,”

Let that sink in 

Everything by its nature vanishes.

In Japanese the heartbreak, the melancholy of the impermanence of all things is summed up in the phrase Mono no Aware. 

Mono-no-aware can’t truly be translated. Any one who speaks another language understands this but it can be literally translated to “the ahhness of things” The isness of things or “the bittersweet poignancy of things.”

I remember some years ago reading the introduction to one of my favorite poets Eugenio de Andrade.   The poet writes from his love of the world and the grief and praise that come from its transience. 

Something that I am learning as of late is that Grief and Praise are intertwined, as Martin Prechtel teaches us in his book, The Smell of Rain on Dust. 

So too are impermanence and gratitude. 

Now the concept of mono-no-aware is born from the teachings of shinto and Buddhism, and was first used to explain Japanese aesthetics to explain uch traditions as cherry-blossom viewing and haiku.  But this insight is much more than simply aesthetics. 

Mono No Aware is at the heart of a meaningful everyday Buddhism.

In this talk we explore the idea of bonbu - of each of us being "foolish beings" and who this informs our community and practice.

Excerpt

"It is our studentship that we share, not our specialness or holiness. It is with humility being aware of our limitations. As I have said time and time again,  I too will be disappointed, and that I do not nor have I ever claimed to be a guru or a master, just a foolish being. 

This idea of the foolish or ordinary being is the foundation to what we do.  And I want to continue our translation of the Shin Tradition. Today it is an idea that is very central in the Shin Tradition - called bonbu."

"Breathing in I am aware that I am breathing in, breathing out, I am aware that I am breathing out.  To really live life we can touch this simple reality with deep awareness – underneath my  stories, religion, ideas and philosophy – 

I appreciate this so much,  

At the time Akegarasu Sensei began teaching he was rather revolutionary, looking for a way to take the teachings of Buddha into people’s everyday lives. His language is different, more direct, less dogmatic and more personal

Rev Akegarasu goes on to write in Shout of Buddha. 

"Besides my own living I don't need religion, philosophy, and morality.  Religion, philosophy, morality, and art and politics, are not in the world of my living beside my living. Beside my being alive there is no God or Buddha. When I die God and Buddha will also die. Look at me. 

What do you think his point is in these lines? For me it is the realization of Being Alive in the flow of now is more important the ideas of being alive – Life is more elemental, life is process, to live is a verb, it is the state of simply being.  

"That aside, here I am driving to work or home from work, like I do every day and the reality that I want, the reality that I EXPECT  is the following:

•       no red lights,

I expect traffic to be light and if it is heavy, still moving efficiently.  

But what happens when these expectations are dashed after the first right hand turn? Anger? rage?  We, I mean I become frustrated, my pulse races, my vision narrows.  I am assigning all kinds of character traits to people I don’t know. I transform into an enemy, one of Mara's henchmen. I have also noticed that since the pandemic it has gotten worse. I even noticed during the week as I was preparing this dharma talk, that as it says in the Dharma Highway Sutra,

“Even the virtuous follower can find themselves overcome  by blind passions when someone invades their lane of traffic  or crowds their rear bumper at high speeds.

"The fellowship is our training ground in our practice.  It is where we come as we are and that means there is lots of opportunities to practice the virtues of patience, humility, compassion, deep listening, letting go of views and expectations 

The practice of sangha can be very difficult because your come as you are is really screwing with my come as I am are right now.  

The spirit of come as you are or sonomama in Japanese keeps us steadfast and open. 

Over the years you have heard me compare the Sangha to a Rock Polisher, it is one of my favorite analogies.  The practice of Sangha is like an old rock polisher where all our sharp edges are crashed against one another until we both become smooth and shiny.  Come as you are opens our practice up to all within the sangha within the fellowship family, accepting each other as we are means we are taking responsibility for our own shit."

Christopher Kakuyo Sensei

This is a dharma talk that shares what we mean when we translate Namu Amida Butsu as "come as you are." What does that mean in a contemporary context?  I also share how the mythic Buddha Amida fits into it all and how this Buddha is relevant today, even for the more secular minded of the West. 

yearly before our Summer Retreat we review what going for refuge to the three jewels means. In this Talk Christopher Kakuyo talks about taking refuge in general and more specifically regarding taking refuge in the Buddha.  As westerns we seem to have a challenge taking refuge in the Buddha. This may be because of our Post Religious' Stress Disorder. We embrace the Dharma and even the Sangha, but the Buddha we keep at arms length, lest he becomes some sort of deity.  Christopher thinks, that by doing this we are doing a disservice to our practice. 

EXCERPT

By keeping this distance from the Buddha, we miss out on something; we miss out on the Buddha's personality, temperament, and example.

We miss an intimate human connection to one of the most fully and realized humans. 

I struggle with this. 

There are times that I feel so connected to the historical Buddha and or the mythic Buddha Amida, that I find tears in my eyes when washing the statue'd face of the Buddha. I have found that my practice is easier and more natural during these times. I am easier to get along with, and when I feel disconnected from the Buddha, or the Buddha feels like nothing more than some dusty figure of history, my practice becomes more challenging if I am practicing at all. 

I appreciate this from Subhuti, a Buddhist teacher in the Tritania order. Subhuti writes about re-imagining the Buddha and how we need to try to imagine the Buddha and his Enlightenment in a way that intellectually and emotionally stirs us.  

Why emotionally? 

Our practice is not just a practice of the mind but the heart-mind. In Chinese kanji, the symbol for heart and mind are the same; there exists no independent thought without accompanying feeling, no distinct feeling without thought, and no compassion in the absence of intellect—in short: no heart without mind or mind without heart. Our connection to the Buddha is intellectual and emotional at the same time so that we can mobilize our energies to Go for Refuge to him, to his teachings and example. How do we do that for us who have and will be taking refuge in the Buddha? He writes, 

"We can only imagine the Buddha wholeheartedly by discovering his image in our minds, inspired and supported by the images around us. Images of this kind cannot be ordered or devised. They must live and grow and, like plants, they must emerge from their own natural environments: the psyches of the individuals in which they appear. 

We use an old Zen story to look at Doing Nothing as skillful action.

Excerpt

"A young monk is struggling and he goes to his master, telling him he is really struggling. So he asks his Master Ganto. When the three worlds threaten me, what shall I do?" Ganto answered, "Sit down." "I do not understand," said the monk. Ganto said, "Pick up the mountain and bring it to me. Then I will tell you." ..

You can just see the poor monk, overwhelmed by the three worlds, which are the world of form, the world of thought and the world of desire… basically everything -  He is coming to the master for help – in my own translation, the young says again to Ganto,

I am at my wits end, what the hell am I supposed to do.  

Ganto looks him right in the face and says sit down. 

Can you imagine, I don’t think it was what he was expecting – he probably was even more confused because 

he was already sitting down....