NO BULLSHIT BUDDHISM

 

 

Coming out of sleep I lie in bed

The fan blowing a gentle breeze across my body

I kick off the covers and stretch

I clear my mind from monkey dreams

And listen to the quietness of the house

I have been a Buddhist practitioner since the late 1970’s when I first read The Three Pillars of ZEN by Roshi Philip Kapleau. 

 

Since that that time I have read and studied numerous books by numerous authors on Buddhism, and particularly Zen.     I have also attended a Zen Sangha and practiced with a Buddhist community; but I find this type of practice unrewarding and particularly contrary to my needs and my feelings of what Buddhism is about. 

 

To me, formal Buddhist training is elitist and probably drives away many westerners who might otherwise benefit and desire to live the Buddhist experience without the commitment to a ritualistic practice of religious nature.

  

My Buddhist practice in No Bullshit Buddhism.    To me, Buddhism, and particularly Zen, should be practiced at its most basic level.   The practice need not be about teachers, or koans; not about robes, bells, icons or timed meditation.

After hours of meditation the Buddha found enlightenment (or realization) when he saw a beautiful young girl, was refreshed by cool water and tasted a bowl of rice.    It is that simple.  The Buddha realized that contentment can come from stopping our search and simply focusing on beautiful and satisfying things around us at the present moment.

The Buddha achieved enlightenment without teachers and community or adopting someone else’s ideas and values.   The Buddha is important only for sharing his realization that to truly live we must be conscious of the moment.    We each have a Buddha nature and by starting from Buddha’s enlightenment we each have the ability to seek our own way.   And there is no One Way.

   

 In my No Bullshit Buddhism the role of meditation is not to stress myself in a painful meditation marathon.  I do not believe that the Buddha was awaken because he spent hours in painful meditation; he was awakened because he became suddenly aware of the beauty of the moment.    However, meditation is a necessary practice to discipline our mind to more fully appreciate the NOW.

Many Zen writers and teachers say that you should not seek an outcome in the practice of zazen (meditation.)      This flies in the face of western thinking and calls for that leap of faith that I refuse to make.

 

 In my No Bullshit Zen I find a quiet, comfortable and familiar location.   I seat myself on a zafu; but a pillow, bench or chair would do – comfort being the object.  I place my right hand in my left, touching my thumbs, bringing both the right and left sides of my brain into equilibrium.    Some texts recommend counting your breaths, but I prefer to gradually slow my breathing while visualizing the air entering my nose and filling my lungs then exiting.  The object is to empty my mind of all thoughts.   If my mind wanders, I bring it back to empty.  I sit until it becomes uncomfortable; then come back to the present calmly and gradually.   As I have practice over time the length of my meditation has naturally increase.  

 

Meditation can lower your blood pressure; it can calm you in stressful situations; and eventually it will allow you to conquer your monkey mind and enable you to more completely focus on the NOW without distracting thoughts.   These are the goals of my zazen practice.

 

In the Shambhala Sun article Essential Teachings of Thich Nhat Han - Beyond Words, he states, “Zen doesn’t travel along a path of learning through writing and words; it relies on direct transmission between teacher and student.”

This may be cutting off the head of the Buddha, but I could not object more.  I read and enjoy many Buddhist books and periodicals and therefore have an insight from numerous different perspectives; but I take nothing on faith and follow no one else’s path.  A teaching or account must make sense to me before I adopt it. 

At the most basic, The Four Noble Truths attempts to explain the cause of our discontent and the Eightfold Path offers a guide to live by.

There are as many paths to living with Buddhist values as there are peopled.   I prefer No Bullshit Buddhism because:

·       I do not feel the Buddha intended his teachings to come at a price.

·       I do not feel the Buddha intended the path of the Buddhist way to be difficult.

·       I do not feel the Buddha intended teachers and Sangha to set themselves as the only path to enlightenment.

·       I do not feel the Buddha intended enlightenment to be sought; but for contentment to be lived.

I have never felt more alive that the moment I released my grip on the wing strut and stepped off the wheel of a small airplane becoming unattached to the earth; or in the stern of a canoe rocketing down a mile of rapids on the Allagash River in Maine; or during the erotic throws of a sexual encounter with a partner responding with abandonment.   These moments far outweigh the experience of the almost zombie state of walking meditation.

  

In our mundane times we should not fail to stop and smell the roses and contemplate the beauty of the time and place; but life experience and reward goes far beyond that.

  

It is my belief, with the exception of monastic training, that the Buddha intended his teachings be simple, to help everyday people in everyday life to understand that hardship, reward, elation, monotony and finally death is a natural part of our existence; and that by living consciously in every moment we live this short life more fully. 

 

I am into my eighties, and at this point in my life impermanence is real.   All people in their younger days understand that someday they will die, that time will erode the mountains and that at some point in the future the sun will turn into a red dwarf and the oceans will evaporate; and even perhaps in the far distant future the expansion of the universe will slow, stop and finally reverse shrinking into a massive black hole where time and space do not exist; but the realization of impermanence does not actually register until we are faced with the experience in our immediate future.

Introspection helps me accept that death is the final obligation I owe to nature; but in the meantime, life is to be lived fully by being unrestrained by concepts and being conscious in the NOW.

 

For what it is worth, this is my No Bullshit Buddhism. 

I retired from the military; graduated from the University of Maine and the University of Alaska; my wife and I taught school for eleven years in the remote Indigenous People’s villages of Alaska.    I am now retired and live in a mobile home in a mobile home park in north-western Maine.  I still experience the winter snows and the summer heat; and listen to the wind, natures voice, as she reminds me how unimportant I am.

 

   the Ol'Buzzard

I HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE RELIGION

Voodoo is the white side of the one true religion that originated with the original people in Africa, the birth place of human beings.  Juju is the dark side of that practice.   

So, every body has been worshiping the wrong gods.  The Great Juju, lives at the bottom of the ocean; and she is  not happy.  

You think the world is experiencing global warming? Wrong. 

The great Juju at the bottom of the sea is having PMS, so you better get your act straight and sacrifice a chicken as penance for worshiping false gods. 











If you don't repent, the zombie apocalypse could be next.

Juju loves me, this I know
For Marie LaVeau told me so
But if I don't respect her spells
She will send me down to hell

But, don't eat the chicken
the OL'Buzzard

BULLSHIT BUDDHISM

Coming out of sleep I lay in bed

The fan blowing a gentle breeze across my body

I kicked off the covers and stretched

I cleared my mind from monkey dreams

And listened to the quietness of the house

Zen

I have been to a Zen sangha – a Buddhist teaching community – and have read extensively; and one lie that is promulgated throughout, is that it is necessary to have a physical teacher in order to achieve enlightenment – to become a Buddhist. 

 

Buddhism, and in particularly Zen, in its most basic teachings, is not about teachers or chants (Koan), not about robes, bells, whistles, icons or timed meditation.   Buddhism is simply a path to help a person achieve contentment by appreciating every conscious waking moment; and Zen is a path to achieve that consciousness through meditation.

The Buddha found enlightenment by himself and each of us have a Buddha nature.  When we are seeking a more contented nature we can distill Buddhist writings and lectures to a basic path that fits our own individual needs.  

Christianity became a formal religion in 325 AD at the council of Nicea (Nicaea) when men decided that Jesus was a god, and what writings would compose the bible, and what the laws and teachings should be.

Likewise after the death of the Buddha, men who had been explaining the simple concept of achieving contentment through focusing on the beauty of the Now, began adding trappings and rituals and requirements that was not the intent of the Buddha.   Teachers venerate themselves, they set themselves up as somehow superior to us – again not the intent of the Buddha. 

If you are interested in alleviating stress and living a more conscious life I would suggest you read Buddhist materials – but not take them as gospel.   

“Buddhism is not about beliefs and practices… it is not a religion.   It is about the teachings of awakening – about examining the world clearly.”

Steve Hagen

The Ol’Buzzard

MORE ZEN

Buddhism is more than meditating.

Here in the west we hold ideas of how things ought to be and how we ought to live.  We are constantly at war with our environment trying to make everything fit into our desired outcome – and when we fall short, which we most often do, we carry the stress of failed expectations.

We hold a fixed idea of who we are and how we want to be perceived.   But there is no fixed I or Ego because everything changes – new causes produce new effects

“One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being.

Solzhenitsyn:  The Gulag Archipelago

The Buddha realized that most often people were carrying stress, and that this stress prevented them from appreciating the refreshing taste of cool water – the beauty of a young girl – or the satisfying taste of rice (his awakening.)    Buddha also realized that the stress is most often self-inflicted.   He addressed this in The Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths

1.     Duhkha*: Life is often like a wheel out of kilter. We are constantly dissatisfied.    We feel we have to fight for control.   We move from one crisis to the next – reacting – never satisfied with our outcome.

2.     Our dissatisfaction originates from our own expectations and desires.   We become obsessed with our problems.

3.    Problems you have will pass.   By focusing on, and being content in the present, instead of fantasizing on future or obsessing with the past, we can alleviate much of our dissatisfaction.

  

4.    The Eight Fold Path is the Buddha’s teaching – a suggested path toward a fulfilling and contented life.

   

*(Spelled Duhkha in Buddhism Plain and Simple; spelled Dukha in The Essence of Zen; spelled Dukkha in Intro to Buddha – and probably other spellings.   There are four major sects of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana and Zen; this probably creates confusions in spellings and definitions.  It is the concept that is important.)

THE EIGHT FOLD PATH

1.    RIGHT VIEW:  accepting the way your world is, even though it is not necessarily the way you might like it to be.  Understanding that nothing is static and everything is changing.

 

2.    RIGHT INTENTION: address each action in your life with resolve; but always choosing the noble path – you instinctively know what is right and what is wrong.

3.      RIGHT SPEECH: speak the truth; but never to injure.

4.     RIGHT ACTION: consider each action with a clear mind, not from preconceptions or prejudices.

  

5.     RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: you should strive to choose an occupation that benefits others, and one that satisfies your needs; but you should apply ourselves in whatever endeavor you occupy.

6.    RIGHT EFFORT: live in the NOW.

7.    RIGHT MINDFULNESS: be conscious of how you are engaging with the world from moment to moment and how your actions affect others.

8.    RIGHT MEDITATION: practice zazen regularly

Notice that the Buddha does not give commandments – there is no ‘thou shall not…’   These are the Buddha’s suggestions – his clarity.

Buddhism is not a belief system.  It is not about accepting beliefs or following rituals.   It is about seeing the world clearly. 

 

It is said that at his death the Buddha told his followers ‘Look not for refuge to anyone beside yourself.’  

 

the Ol’Buzzard

I AM TWO PEOPLE

I am two people.  Not of a parallel universe, nor a radical personality disorder; but a person with a strong Physic background and a practicing No Bullshit Buddhist. 

 

Physics describes the world around us with concrete laws backed up by provable experimentation and mathematics equations.    Theoretical Physics strives to explain why things are as they are, and the logical consequences of expanding known attributes into the unknown.   Astrophysics attempts to explain the universe; the beginning, the now and  the future of the cosmos.

Buddhism says it’s all bullshit – it doesn’t matter – the NOW is all we have: how we live this day, in each moment, in total awareness can bring us peace and tranquility throughout this short life – and that’s really all that matters.

Steve Hagen, a trained Physicist, now a Buddhist priest explores the links between Science, Philosophy and Perception in his book HOW THE WORLD CAN BE THE WAY IT IS.

  

Steve Hagen is the reason I practice my own version of Buddhism today.

 

My first interest in Buddhism came after reading THE THREE PILLARS OF ZEN by Roshi Philip Kapleau in the 1960’s.   Afterwards I read numerous books with esoteric explanations of Buddhism, many verging on religion and mysticism.  It wasn’t until Steve Hagen’s BUDDHISM PLAIN AND SIMPLE that I was able to codify a simple (No Bullshit) Buddhist practice that seemed practical and worthwhile to me.

I am still awed by Theoretical Physics; but, especially at my age, it is strictly entertainment.   Zen is a way of life. 

   

I have fallen away from my ZEN practice, but now it is time for me to come back.

The beginning of this new year is a good time to explore ZEN as a more peaceful and conscious way to live.

  

If you are interested, I recommend starting with Buddhism Plain and Simple.   I will also post a series of earlier blog post I have done over the years.   My particular Buddhist practice is personal, and I feel each person should develop their own – or not.  There are Buddhist Sangha in almost every state for more formal Buddhist training. 

 

And, of course, you don’t need Buddhism or religions to live a good life and be a good person. 

the Ol’Buzzard   

MINDFULNESS IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS.

Donald Trump drives me fucking crazy.   Republicans drive me fucking crazy. 

I don’t know why it should bother me because the whole human race is nuts.   People make up religions and then go to war over their imaginary gods.   Political parties dupe followers and encourage hate and dissent for opposing ideas.    Whites look down on people of color; blacks are disgusted by white people; Indians don’t like Eskimos; Eskimos don’t like Indians, and neither like white or black people.  The list of human shortcomings and prejudices is unending.   

This is the world we live in.   This is who we are.   Yet, we claim to be intelligent creatures.    But when we appraise that statement we see we are intelligent only because we define ourselves as such.  

You only need to look at a Trump rally to view the face of the real human race.    An intelligent species?   I think not.

I have always said that if you wanted to see a microcosm of the human race you should watch unsupervised children on an elementary playground.   There is a hierarchy with a bully at the top, toadies, untouchables; small cliques and then the people at the bottom of the food chain.   It is an intimidating world that kids must learn to maneuver. 

Think of the Trump Presidency.  It is an adult version of the elementary playground.

So, what can we do?  

We can cut out the chaos and be mindful in our daily life.  We can realize that we are living in an adult version of an elementary playground; but as adults we can change the things in our life that are causing us stress and accept those things we can not change.   We can be mindful of the small pleasures and beauty around us.  We can meditate to help focus our minds. 

We must realize that humans are a destructive, deadly, egocentric species.    That will never change; but as adults we can choose to live outside that chaos as much as possible.

the Ol’Buzzard

BANGKOK TATTOO

Bangkok Tattoo published in 2005: the story of a Royal Thai policeman, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who with his mother manages a brothel.   

Sonchai is a devout  Buddhist, able to accept the  corruption of the system, the violence in society and his own position in the Bangkok sex trade with true Buddhist mindfulness.

"You are a remarkable collection of coincidences held together by a desperate and irrational clinging, there is no center at all, everything depends on everything else, your body depends on the environment, your thoughts depend on whatever junk floats in from the media, your emotions are largely from the reptilian end of your DNA, your intellect is a chemical computer that can’t add up a zillionth as fast as a pocket calculator, and even your best side is a superficial piece of social programming that will fall apart just as soon as your spouse leaves with the kids and the money in your joint account, or the economy starts to fail and you get the sack, or you get conscripted into some idiot’s war, or they give you news about your brain tumor.   To name this amorphous morass of self-pity, vanity, and despair is not only the height of hubris, it is also proof (if any were needed) that we are above all a delusional species."  

excerpt from Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett.

namaste

the Ol'Buzzard 

SOLSTICE BRINGS A NEW BEGINNING

My wife and I exchanged gifts today in celebration of the Winter Solstice. 

By all logical thinking today should be the beginning of the new year – the longest night of the old year followed by the renewing of sun and light.

Mankind, in the belief of his own divinity, has regulated time and calendars to reflect his convenience and superstitious beliefs.  

We tend to see the stars in the sky as markers place there for navigation; the moon to light our way at night; and the sun specifically to warm us and supply us power.  

Everything on this earth we view as placed here for our use and our exploitation.   We have even conceited to raise ourselves above Nature by conferring ourselves with everlasting life and devising gods in our own image.   We hate, we war, we punish people that are not like us and do not think like us.  

Yet, Nature continues unabated with its seasonal changes, winds continue to blow and climate shifts to nullify our destructive tendencies.   

The Wicca way, the Pagan was to view nature as the source of our life and to celebrate it as the source of our existence.  Just as man has added unnecessary layers to the Buddha’s teachings, Neo-Wiccans and Pagans have tried to embellish these celebrations of Seasonal Change with ceremonies and rituals to empower themselves.

True celebrants realize that the earth is not about them: that their short temporary existence is a gift from Nature – that life is for living, and in the end we are not eternal, and our death is the final obligation we owe to nature. 

We should try to celebrate the gift of this new year – a small continuation of our own existence – by putting away negative thoughts and allowing ourselves the small things that bring us pleasure. 

Celebrate this marker with us as a chance for a new beginning.  Accept the things you cannot change and change the things you must; but live this life to the fullest, because it is finite. 

My wife and I will drink to you and think of you as we enjoy a special meal on this special day. 

the Ol’Buzzard

FEEDING SQUIRRELS

Sometimes in life you just have to learn to go with it – go with the flow.    Rather than fight against the current, oft times it is better to just change your destination and proceed downstream.  

I used to have a couple of small red squirrels that would raid my bird feeders.   Then about two years ago a large grey squirrel showed up – this year there are two grey squirrels.   The two original red squirrels had a litter of babies this summer (I guess you call them a litter):  two little mouse size reds that have no fear of me.  Add to this, four chipmunks and I have a rodent menagerie living in my back yard.

I tried everything to outsmart the squirrels.  I hung the feeders by concertina wire and put up baffles above the feeders, I greased the pole of my ground feeder; but nothing seemed to work. 

 I have finally come to the conclusion that in the nature order of things, in the food chain, squirrels come before birds; so trying to feed birds and not the squirrels is against the natural order. 

My squirrels love black oil sunflower seeds; but now I have another problem.   Bird scavengers are stealing food from my squirrel feeders.

BECOME THE WATER GRASSHOPPER.

the Ol’Buzzard 

NO BULLSHIT BUDDHISM

Coming out of sleep I lie in bed

The fan blowing a gentle breeze across my body

I kick off the covers and stretch

I clear my mind from monkey dreams

And listen to the quietness of the house

I have been a Buddhist practitioner since the late 1970’s when I first read The Three Pillars of ZEN by Roshi Philip Kapleau.

  

Since that that time I have read and studied numerous books by numerous authors on Buddhism, and particularly Zen.     I have also attended a Zen Sanghi and practiced with a Buddhist community; but I find this type of practice unrewarding and particularly contrary to my needs and my feelings of what Buddhism is about. 

 

To me, formal Buddhist training is elitist and probably drives away many westerners who might otherwise benefit and desire to live the Buddhist experience without the commitment to a ritualistic practice of religious nature.

  

My Buddhist practice in No Bullshit Buddhism.    To me, Buddhism, and particularly Zen, should be practiced at its most basic level.   The practice need not be about teachers, or koans; not about robes, bells, icons or timed meditation.

After hours of meditation the Buddha found enlightenment (or realization) when he saw a beautiful young girl, was refreshed by cool water and tasted a bowl of rice.    It is that simple.  The Buddha realized that contentment can come from stopping our search and simply focusing on beautiful and satisfying things around us at the present moment.

The Buddha achieved enlightenment without teachers and community or adopting someone else’s ideas and values.   The Buddha is important only for sharing his realization that to truly live we must be conscious of the moment.    We each have a Buddha nature and by starting from the Buddha’s enlightenment we each have the ability to seek our own way.   And there is no One Way.

   

In my No Bullshit Buddhism the role of meditation is not to stress myself in a painful meditation marathon.  I do not believe that the Buddha was awaken because he spent hours in painful meditation; he was awakened because he became suddenly aware of the beauty of the moment.    

However, meditation is a necessary practice to discipline our mind to more fully appreciate the NOW.

Many Zen writers and teachers say that you should not seek an outcome in the practice of zazen (meditation.)      This flies in the face of western thinking and calls for that leap of faith that I refuse to make.

 

 In my No Bullshit Zen I find a quiet, comfortable and familiar location.   I seat myself on a zafu; but a pillow, bench or chair would do – comfort being the object.  I place my right hand in my left, touching my thumbs, bringing both the right and left sides of my brain into equilibrium.    Some texts recommend counting your breaths, but I prefer to gradually slow my breathing while visualizing the air entering my nose and filling my lungs then exiting.  The object is to empty my mind of all thoughts.   If my mind wanders I bring it back to empty.  I sit until it becomes uncomfortable; then come back to the present calmly and gradually.   As I have practice over time the length of my meditation has naturally increase.  

Meditation can lower your blood pressure; it can calm you in stressful situations; and eventually it will allow you to conquer your monkey mind and enable you to more completely focus on the NOW without distracting thoughts.   These are the goals of my zazen practice.

 

In the Shambhala Sun article Essential Teachings of Thich Nhat Han - Beyond Words, he states, “Zen doesn’t travel along a path of learning through writing and words; it relies on direct transmission between teacher and student.”

This may be cutting off the head of the Buddha, but I could not object more. 

I read and enjoy many Buddhist books and periodicals and therefore have am insight from numerous different perspectives; but I take nothing on faith and follow no one else’s path.  A teaching or account must make sense to me before I adopt it.

 

At the most basic, The Four Noble Truths attempts to explain the cause of our discontent and the Eightfold Path offers a guide to live by.

There are as many paths to living with Buddhist values as there are peopled.   I prefer No Bullshit Buddhism because:

• I do not feel the Buddha intended his teachings to come at a price.
• 
  
• I do not feel the Buddha intended the path of the Buddhist way to be difficult
• .
• I do not feel the Buddha intended teachers and Sanghis to set themselves as the only path to enlightenment.
• 
  
• I do not feel the Buddha intended enlightenment to be sought; but for contentment to be lived.

I have never felt more alive that the moment I released my grip on the wing strut and stepped off the wheel of a small airplane becoming unattached to the earth; or in the stern of a canoe rocketing down a mile of rapids on the Allagash River in Maine; or during the erotic throws of a sexual encounter with a partner responding with abandonment.   These moments far outweigh the experience of the almost zombie state of walking meditation.

  

In our mundane times we should not fail to stop and smell the roses and contemplate the beauty of the time and place; but life experience and reward goes far beyond that.

  

It is my belief, with the exception of monastic training, the Buddha intended his teachings be simple, to help everyday people in everyday life to understand that hardship, reward, elation, monotony and finally death is a natural part of our existence; and that by living consciously in every moment we live this short life more fully. 

I am well into my seventies, and at this point in my life impermanence is real.   

All people in their younger days understand that someday they will die, that time will erode the mountains and that at some point in the future the sun will turn into a red dwarf and the oceans will evaporate; and even perhaps in the far distant future the expansion of the universe will slow, stop and finally reverse shrinking into a massive black hole where time and space do not exist; but the realization of impermanence does not actually register until we are faced with the experience in our immediate future.

Introspection helps me accept that death is the final obligation I owe to nature; but in the meantime life is to be lived fully by being unrestrained by concepts and being conscious in the NOW.

For what it is worth this is my No Bullshit Buddhism.

 

The Ol’Buzzard

I retired from the military; graduated from the University of Maine and the University of Alaska; my wife and I taught school for eleven years in the remote Indigenous People’s villages of Alaska.    I am now retired to a small post and beam cabin in rural Maine where I cut fire wood in the summer and feed the wood stove in the winter. 

    

ZEN THOUGHT FOR TODAY

the Ol'Buzzard

ZEN: DRAGGING THE BOAT

Two young men left their village to attend a talk by the Buddha.   It was to be a three day journey so the men left a day early to insure they would arrive in plenty of time to enjoy the preceding. 

 After two days they arrived at a river only to find the bridge had been destroyed.  Knowing they had an extra day they set about constructing a boat from bamboo and reeds.   The next morning they made the crossing and were feeling confident as they still had a day for travel.

 

The oldest man said that it was such a fine boat it would be a shame to leave it, so they each grabbed a gunnel and started down the road.

   

The men arrived in village just as the Buddha finished talking.   They approached the Buddha and told him how disappointed they were to have missed his talk.   The Buddha look at the men and the boat and asked why they dragging a boat.  The men said they had built it to cross the river and that it was such a fine boat they could not leave it.  

The Buddha smiled and walked away.

I sit here in my den/office/man-cave or whatever you want to call this room that all the artifacts of decades of my life are jumbled into and look around at the boat that I have been dragging: books on sky diving (not going to happen,) books on white water canoeing ( I no longer own a canoe,) survival gear, hunting and fishing gear, pictures and artifacts hanging on the walls, three boxes of cassette tapes ( I no longer own a cassette player,) Sherlock Holmes collections and the list could go on.

I have been dragging most of this stuff around with me for decades – some for over fifty years.  

I tend to think of this stuff as defining me; but in truth I was a different person at each time this stuff represents.   However, they bring back pleasant memories.

You can’t stand in the same river twice.

I guess we all drag our boats, and perhaps that is only a bad thing when it prevents us from living in the present or obstructs our future goals.

Hell I don’t know

Just rambling

the Ol’Buzzard

BULLSHIT BUDDHISM

Coming out of sleep I lay in bed

The fan blowing a gentle breeze across my body

I kicked off the covers and stretched

I cleared my mind from monkey dreams

And listened to the quietness of the house

Zen

I have been to a Zen sangha – a Buddhist teaching community – and have read extensively; and one lie that is promulgated throughout, is that it is necessary to have a physical teacher in order to achieve enlightenment – to become a Buddhist.

  

Buddhism, and in particularly Zen, in its most basic teachings is not about teachers or chants (Koan), not about robes, bells, whistles, icons or timed meditation.   Buddhism is simply a path to help a person achieve contentment by appreciating every conscious waking moment; and Zen is a path to achieve that consciousness through meditation.

The Buddha found enlightenment by himself and each of us have a Buddha nature.  When we are seeking a more contented nature me can distill Buddhist writings and lectures to a basic path that fits our own individual needs.

  

Christianity became a religion in 325 AD at the council of Nicea (Nicaea) when men decided that Jesus was a god, and what writings would compose the bible, and what the laws and teachings should be.

Likewise after the death of the Buddha, men who had been explaining the simple concept of achieving contentment through focusing on the beauty of the Now, began adding trappings and rituals and requirements that was not the intent of the Buddha.   Teachers venerate themselves, they set themselves up as somehow superior to us – again not the intent of the Buddha. 

If you are interested in alleviating stress and living a more conscious life I would suggest you read Buddhist materials – but not take them as gospel.

 In my opinion, the best Buddhist (Zen) teachings, the most distilled and easiest practiced and understood can be found in two books by Steve Hagen:  Buddhism Plain and Simple and Buddhism Is Not What You Think.

 

“Buddhism is not about beliefs and practices… it is not a religion.   It is about the teachings of awakening – about examining the world clearly.”

Steve Hagen

The Ol’Buzzard

BACK TO ZEN

BACK TO ZEN

TRY AGAIN

LIVE IN MINDFULNESS

How many times I have come back

The crazy world

Distracting

Unsettling

I find myself wandering in a forest of anxiety

Dashing about in frustration

Seeing no way out

Never noticing the path I am standing on

And the beauty of the trees around me.  

This morning I got up, did some stretches, weights, and then meditated for five minutes.

  

I have fallen away from the beauty and contentment of the path less traveled, and become lost among the masses that trod the well-worn road that inevitably leads to anxiety and discontent ((Duhkha.)

I am over the hump of my seventies and seem to be aimless.   I am reacting instead of acting; I am focusing on things I have no ability to change; the stream of the world is flowing by around my ankles and I am stomping at the waves; I have lost my mindfulness – and it is time to return…  to Zen.

It is not a distant journey; it is only one step.

As I move back to mindfulness, I will post the journey.  

Zen reminds us that if we don’t see the beauty and mystery of our present life – our present moment; it is unlikely we will live in the beauty of any moment of life.

NOW is holy

the Ol’Buzzard