Two Sides of Practice Part 3: When We Neglect Samadhi Power, and How the Two Sides are Complementary
What about neglecting samadhi power, and overemphasizing karma relationship? This is when we try to get free from our suffering, be a good and wholesome person, have harmonious relationships, and/or aspire to greater wisdom and compassion – and then we struggle in our efforts in same way we struggle with the rest of our ordinary tasks. Approaching things only from the relative perspective, we set goals or adopt ideals, work hard, notice when we’ve fallen short, devise another way, and try harder. Chances are good we also criticize ourselves, compare ourselves to others, and experience a mixture of frustration, pride, and shame. Caught up in the drama of the relative, we fail to see things from a larger perspective, and may succumb to arrogance, depression or despair.
Two Sides of Practice Part 2: When We Neglect Karma Relationship
Two Sides of Practice, but Only One Reality I’ve heard people say karma relationship work is about the “relative world,” while samadhi power is about the absolute. There’s some truth in this statement, in the sense that relationships between beings and things are part...
Two Sides of Practice Part 1: Samadhi Power and Karma Relationship – Definitions
Buddhist practice can be seen as consisting of two parts, and both are essential. The first part is cultivating “samadhi power,” or our ability to perceive – or be awake to – the absolute aspect of reality. We do this through practices including meditation,...
Skillful Means: The Buddhist Teaching on How to Share Your Wisdom – Part 3
The Buddhist concept of “upaya,” expedient or skillful means, arose around the dawn of the common era – about 2,000 years ago. It emphasizes that even if we possess wisdom, when we want to share it with other beings and help them, it’s not so easy to do so. We need to...
Skillful Means: The Buddhist Teaching on How to Share Your Wisdom – Part 2
The Buddhist concept of “upaya,” expedient or skillful means, arose around the dawn of the common era – about 2,000 years ago. It emphasizes that even if we possess wisdom, when we want to share it with other beings and help them, it’s not so easy to do so. We need to...
Skillful Means: The Buddhist Teaching on How to Share Your Wisdom – Part 1
The Buddhist concept of “upaya,” expedient or skillful means, arose around the dawn of the common era – about 2,000 years ago. It emphasizes that even if we possess wisdom, when we want to share it with other beings and help them, it’s not so easy to do so. We need to be patient, creative, and compassionate so they will be able to hear, accept, and act on what we have to share.
The Middle Way Between Self-Centered and Do-Gooder
Most Zen teachers I know will readily admit to you that when they offer a teaching, it's usually something that they need to remember as much as anyone. With that disclaimer, then, I can write this post without sounding like I'm criticizing everyone else for being...
A Handy Chart for Understanding Absolute and Relative
Zen talks about absolute and relative alot - which each one is, how to wake up to the absolute, and how to reconcile and harmonize the two sides. Sometimes the discussion of relative and absolute can get pretty philosophical and abstract. To help ground and guide our...
Zazen: The Incredibly Difficult Practice of Not-Doing
Our practice of zazen is also known as shikantaza, a Japanese term that can be translated as "nothing but precisely sitting." The whole point is to just sit there. Doing nothing. A practice of not-doing. This is so difficult for us, we can hardly even conceive of it....
Missing Kyogen Carlson and His Dharma
[I wrote this short essay in 2015; Kyogen Carlson passed away Sept. 18th, 2014, and we held our Founder's Memorial ceremony for him last weekend.] At my Zen Center last Sunday we read and discussed a beautiful teaching from Kyogen Carlson, one of my Zen teachers. It...