Easter(ish) opening...

Hi everyone - just a quick note about our zazen evenings for the next couple of weeks...

This coming Monday is the Easter Monday Bank Holiday... but we won't let that stop us! We'll be meeting for zazen at the same time & place as ever, so if you can make it on Monday (1st April), we'll see you then.

However, the next Monday (8th April) we won't be meeting, as I'll be away on sesshin (meditation retreat). Sit at home that day! We'll meet again the following week (15th) as per usual.

I asked AI to make me an Easter-themed Buddhist image, and it came up with this...

If you're taking some time off over the Easter hols, have a great time!

The method of no-method

 There's some discussion about whether the terms "silent illumination" and "shikanatza" mean the same thing - but at the very least they're similar! Today's quote is from Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method by Rebecca Li that resonated strongly with me:

Silent Illumination is often called the method of no-method because it does not ask us to focus the mind on any particular object such as the breath. There is nothing to do, but you can’t do nothing, so you have to start with something. It is a way of clear and total open awareness, moment-to-moment experience that simultaneously reveals our intrinsic enlightenment. Silent Illumination is a relaxing into the present that allows us to shed our habits of self-centered attachment—and consequently our suffering—without force, like leaves falling from a tree in autumn.

AI-generated image: watercolor painting of a single
purple viola wittrockiana flower on a plain background

 

Zen "the direct expression of our true nature"

Today's quote comes from the remarkable Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by renowned teacher Shunryu Suzuki, whose Zen legacy is alive and well around the world. In ZMBM he writes:

Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.

This indivisibility of our practice and our life is crucial, though it should never be taken as encouragement not to do formal practice! Rather, as both our practice and our lives arise, our true nature inevitably expresses itself moment-by-moment. And as our practice matures, our responses to each moment come more from that true nature, unfiltered by our small selves. 

So: join us for a spot of zazen on Monday evening!

Exploring the Ten Fetters with a Zen eye

At the start of this year, I started to discuss the Ten Fetters in our weekly Zen meetings in Northampton, and I did a condensed reprise of them in our online Saturday meeting today. In the end, I had to race to finish on time (didn't quite make it!), so as a challenge to myself to be more brief, I'm giving myself one last chance to explore the Ten Fetters concisely!

The Ten Fetters are outlined in the Sangiti Sutta (DN33), part of the earliest surviving canonical Buddhist scriptures. They're not often talked about in Zen circles,  but being aware of these mental hindrances can offer valuable insights and guidance for Zennies, allowing us to deepen our practice and move more freely in the world.

The Ten Fetters, or Samyojana, are described as mental obstacles that bind individuals to the cycle of suffering (samsara). They include fundamental misconceptions such as identity view, doubt, attachment to rituals, sensual desire, ill will, attachment to form, attachment to formless realms, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. Each fetter represents a layer of delusion that obscures our innate wisdom and prevents us from realizing our true nature. I won't go into detail on each of these as I'm aiming for conciseness here. I'll save that for the book...! [Lol the thought of me writing a book on Zen or Buddhism!!!]

It's not part of normal Zen practice to analyse the contents or processes of our consciousness in detail. I'm sure, though, that part of the fruit of Zen practice is precisely the sort of clarity and wisdom that can give us a good place to stand in considering these, becoming aware of our own mental states and tendencies. Such insight is crucial for spotting the arising and the effects of these Fetters in our practice, our relationships, our work lives, and in all of our lives. 

Zen often demands we let go of fixed views, desires, and attachments, and this is very much in the spirit of overcoming the fetters. Considering the Fetters allows us to deepen our insight into the impermanence and insubstantiality of all phenomena through the study of the Ten Fetters. For me, this is the heart of the tenth Fetter, ignorance (avidya), and as I said this morning, if we could only keep one from the list it would be this one, as it encapsulates all the others. 

The breaking of these chains that bind us to our storied selves is not a simple one-off process but a lifetime's graft, and I see myself fail at it all the time. But fail again, try again, I tell myself. Don't be attached to the results, just get used to seeing the world as it stands before us, before we impose upon it our own desires, conceits, doubts, fixed views and all the rest.

Gassho,

Alasdair Taisen

Inspiration...

 This is from the late Thich Nhat Hanh:

Don’t underestimate yourself. You have the ability to wake up. You have the ability to be compassionate. You just need a little bit of practice to be able to touch the best that is in you. Enlightenment, mindfulness, understanding, and compassion are in you. Very simple practices—such as meditative walking, mindful breathing, or washing dishes mindfully—make it possible for you to leave hell and touch the positive seeds that are within you.  

 

Keeping in touch?

As long-time followers of this blog - and people who have ever come to the Northampton group - will know, keeping in touch with folk hasn't been a strength of mine. I'm going to try to improve things on that front a bit this year, try and keep the group and the practice a bit more present in our lives. Don't expect weekly emails or anything!

However, I've got embarrassingly few contact details from people who've visited the group or even just been in touch, so step one is probably to remedy that. If you'd like the odd email from me - perhaps to announce an event, or a notification of a new blog post, that sort of thing, please could you send me your email address (along with your full name so I have a vague chance at some organisation). You can email your details to me at alasdair@gordon-finlayson.net, or text/WhatsApp me on 07807 753 781. 

Just a quick note that this is completely separate from the main StoneWater Zen Sangha email list - this is a more informal list that's only going to be kept on my computer and used only be me. I will never share these details with anyone - not even SWZ - and of course will remove you if you get bored of the flood of emails from me (heh not likely).

Talking of the main mailing list - I'd encourage you to sign up for that if you haven't already. To do so, go to www.stonewaterzen.org and scroll right to the bottom of the page, you'll see a form there, just fill it in and hey presto.

AI generated. Adobe Firefly prompt: "bald zen monk leaning over a
desk writing with a quill in ink-and-brush painting style"

New Year's Day 2024 - Zazen as usual!

Just a quick note to say that we will be meeting on Monday 1st January 2024 for our usual zen meditation schedule. Let's start the New Year the same way we mean to go on! 

Genku-ji Temple Bell, Higashi-ueno, Tokyo

In the Japanese tradition, New Year is celebrated from 1-3 January and there can be various rites associated with it - a fire ceremony to symbolise the burning away of our old karma, the writing of New Year's resolutions in Japanese calligraphy, putting up new decorations around the entrance to the home, and many others. 

The one that has always struck me (sorry, terrible pun...) is the ringing of the temple bell 108 times to see the New Year in - starting at midnight. The number 108 comes up frequently in Zen and in Buddhism more broadly, and amongst other things is said to be the number of imperfections that we need to rid ourselves of. So, plenty of work to do then!

Clearly, in the New Year, we have a chance to set our intentions for the immediate future, and I encourage you to reflect on how you want to life your life over the coming year. 

Wishing you strong practice, peace and happiness for 2024!