Split Thread - "Happiness" in Buddhism and Zen

[Mitka]

JUNDO NOTE - SPLIT FROM "Special reading - eight types of enlightenment" (LINK)

I would add to what I wrote above that it appears to me a ninth conceptualization of Enlightenment is emerging in the West... and that is Enlightenment as happiness. We hear it all the time in spiritual writing, "To find true happiness we must must stop searching and discover what we had all along." Eckhart Tolle's example in his book The Power of Now of the homeless man sitting on a chest of gold who asks a passerby for some loose change and instead is told to look into what he is sitting on is a prime example. It also shows up in Alan Watts, and Gangaji and Mooji (disciples of Papaji, himself a disciple of Ramana Maharshi), and Deepak Chopra, and Ram Dass.

I believe it probably comes from our cultural's unique focus on "fulfillment." Given the absence of otherworldy types of fulfillment, we must use the time we have on earth to realize our true potential and live life fully and contently. Our economic system caters to this... each product is conceptualized and advertised to fulfill us in some way, to make us feel more alive and satisfied with life. Of course it never works, and so sensitive people turn to religion to find true satisfaction. This is why we hear a lot of talk about "God-shaped holes" in Christianity, which seems to be shifting the satisfaction-qotient of faith from heaven to earth, and "sat-chit-ananda (existence, consciousness, bliss, with emphasis on the bliss)" in Western Hinduism, transmuting negativity into laughter and freedom in Buddhism (thinking here of Alan Watts and Pema Chodron), not to mention the nonsectarian teachers who talk about finding satisfaction in the present moment, and even secular movements such as "idgaf (I don't give a fart)", and of course the billion-dollar self-help industry.

Whatever enlightenment may truly be, I think a lot of people in West are pursuing it for one reason: to be happy.

[Jundo]

Hi Matthew,

I agree so much with this. It can become just part of the consumer culture of "religion should please me" and bring instant gratification and perpetual jollies.

A couple of "howevers" however.

Buddhism and especially Zen have always, especially in the North Asian formulations, had more emphasis on finding peace in this life, not only in some future life or realm.

Second, some of the modern Teachers, if you look closely, are actually doing a bit of "bate and switch" on their use of "happiness," which turns out to be much as the "joyous and content to be joyful, joyous and content to be sad, joyous and content to be healthy, joyous and content to be sick sometimes" aspect that you hear around here quite often. I have spoken about this and all the Dalai Lama's books on "happiness":

=============

The Tibetans tend to speak of "Happiness" quite a bit in their books and talks ... but when looked at closely, it is much the same as the subtle Joy and Peace that we speak of in the Zen corner of the woods ... a Joy that holds comfortably the happy times and sad times, a Peace that is wholly all life's many pieces.

Frankly, if somebody just wanted to be "happy happy happy", I think there are pharmaceuticals that will do the job faster and deeper than any meditation ... at least for a short time.

I sometimes think that the Tibetans writers chose the word "Happiness" in their literature to impress Westerners. The problem is that some folks may hear that and think that they are going to find the key to 24/7 "laughing gas" happiness ... and are a bit disappointed when in fact what is delivered is something much more subtle (though fathomlessly richer). I once wrote ...

Even in Tibetan Buddhism's emphasis on "happiness" ... such words might disguise the real teaching of the Dalai Lama and most Tibetan Teachers I know (same message as here at Treeleaf, in fact) that the point of this Practice is not the attaining of a happy happy ha ha happy happiness all the time (I have never met such a constantly giddy Tibetan teacher, and who would want such a state ... like only watching the comedy movies and never the drama!), but of a certain subtle Happiness (big "H") that transcends AND yet fully contains both the happy times and the sad, smiles and tears, the rainy days and sunny days, as judged by small human eyes in this life of Samsara. I do not think they are teaching people to feel happy that their mother died or tickled that there is a war somewhere in the world ... but a Boundless Joy and Buddha's Smile that shines through all that life can dish out.

A Buddha's Happiness transcends and holds small human "happy and sad".



Gassho, J

Sat TodayLAH

[Jundo]

I would like to say too ...

I think it is more common these days for people to come to Zen seeking some peace and contentment (happiness), which is fine. I enjoy that too, and it is a main thrust of what we are about. This Way is good medicine in that regard.

However, I still go with the "old school" Zen folks who offered that our Way provided some real answers to "Big Questions" like the following. Even though it seems like fewer people come to Buddhism these days seeking such answers (I wonder what a survey would reveal), I do feel that Zen Practice really does provide answers to such questions, and that such is still a (the?) central point of Practice. In fact, it is much of what I look at in Talks by me on Master Dogen, Koans and the like.

These answers, by the way, are not always complete answers that our small human thoughts can grasp, and sometimes the "answer" is more like a sense (like a child trying to grasp the adult world). But they are solid answers nonetheless. I also feel that they are "reasonable" (although not always according to our "common sense" ordinary reason that only experiences a world of separate, individual things), and that most of the answers offered seem to be perfectly in keeping (i.e., free of apparent conflicts, and with much similarity in perspectives) with modern perspectives of physics, brain science and the rest of modern science about how the universe and mind are structured:


- Who are we in the universe?

- Where do we come from when born, and where do we go when we seem to die?

- What is the purpose and best way to live in between that birth and death?


SPOILER ALERT: All that talk about Zen making us "One with the universe" is not a misnomer, that although we are born and die we also don't really "come" or "go" too (see 'wave on sea, rising and falling but the sea all along' analogy), and that since we find ourselves alive the best thing to do is live and live gently. Our Zazen and all our Practice has much to do with letting us realize so and live so.


Call me naive, but most folks around here know me as a pretty pragmatic, skeptical fellow who discounts much of the seemingly superstitious and overly idealistic beliefs of traditional Buddhism. Nonetheless, I believe that this Path provides some solid perspectives on questions like the above that even a skeptic can entertain.







Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Doshin]

Call me naive, but most folks around here know me as a pretty pragmatic, skeptical fellow who discounts much of the seemingly superstitious and overly idealistic beliefs of traditional Buddhism. Nonetheless, I believe that this Path provides some solid perspectives on questions like the above that even a skeptic can entertain.



http://www.otoons.com/eso/images/zen.jpg



Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

That is why I am here listening to you Jundo even when I do not always understand

Doshin
St.

[Jakuden]

Thank you Jundo Roshi

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Mp]

Wonderful Jundo, I am bias, but I sure do like the way you express the Dharma, thank you as always. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Joyo]

That is why I am here listening to you Jundo even when I do not always understand

Doshin
St.

Me too Jundo. Thank you for your teachings.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today/lah

[Jishin]

Whatever enlightenment may truly be, I think a lot of people in West are pursuing it for one reason: to be happy.

Enlightened people are attached to enlightenment.

Nothing wrong with attachment to happiness.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Enlightened people are attached to enlightenment.

Nothing wrong with attachment to happiness.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Hmmm.

Enlightenment is usually defined as freedom from attachment in Buddhism.

However, Zen folks also learned how to be "free from attachments" right in a world of various human attachments. Attached yet free of attachment. Non-attached attachment. I see this as the profound appreciation of the beauty of a bird in flight while in view, and a willingness to let it fly off without traces.

So, I think it is fine to be happy sometimes, but do not be attached to happiness (a happiholic). Also, fine to be sad sometimes, but do not be attach to sadness (a tragiholic). Best to be Free in sometime happiness and sometime sadness.

When happy, be happy. When sad, just sad. Happy at the little bird's presence, sad as it leaves our view. All just our life like a bird in flight.

Something like that.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH



I am not

[Shinshou]

I'm glad Jundo used the word "contentment." I haven't achieved lasting happiness through zen, or really even increased happiness. But I have greatly increased my ability to be content. When things go wrong, it's okay to not be okay, and still realize that not being okay is okay. That's being content.

Shinshou
Sat today

[Hoseki]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure how many people actually think about what happiness is. I mean really ask themselves what it is to be happy? I suspect its a fuzzy concept for most people so it varies by the current context.

Gassho
Hoseki
Sattoday

[Getchi]

Two things I've learned through tree leaf anc jundo that make me "happy" are

1. Its not my fault. Whatever emotion arises,whether wanted or not, is largely due to a mysterious playing out of Mind itself.

2. Philosophical questions like "why are we alive", "where do we go" and "what's the purpose of life" are not only distracting and largely unnecessary, but also seldom produce worthwhile results in concrete reality.

Being comfortable with being just the me I am (whether good/bad, although good/bad or neither good/bad) means I drop the idea of who I "should" be and live more as what I already am anyway.



Hope that makes sense


Gassho,
Geoff.

SatToday,
LaH.

[Jishin]

Hi guys,

I'm not sure how many people actually think about what happiness is. I mean really ask themselves what it is to be happy? I suspect its a fuzzy concept for most people so it varies by the current context.

Gassho
Hoseki
Sattoday

I like to walk around the house with my wife’s panties and high hills.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

I like to walk around the house with my wife’s panties and high hills.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

If you do, then that is good for you.

When I was growing up, such things were less accepted. I feel that it is marvelous today that people can be open and accepted about such things.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAh

[Jishin]

IMG_0479.JPG

Sometimes I wear a wig too.



Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Hoko]

This hits home for me.
Thank you to Matthew for the original post and thank you to Jundo for his insightful commentary.

When I first came to Zen it was to attain enlightenment which I had conflated with happiness.
I think a lot of Westerners do this because we're taught that being unhappy is bad and we should never be unhappy and if we're every unhappy for any reason it's clearly someone else's fault and we need to sue them into giving us money so we can buy more stuff which will, of course, make us happy...

Well it didn't pan out for me (neither did alcoholism or anti-depressants, btw) so I put it in the "tried it" pile and moved on.
I went off and played around with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and made a deep exploration of Martin Seligman's research on happiness.
Again, no dice.
Dukkha, but no dice...

But I came back to Zen when I read a little more about "attainment mindset" and realized that Zen wasn't about achieving whiz-bang all the time happiness.
In fact, the idea that you're supposed to be happy all the time or that by achieving some temporary peak experience (kensho?) you'll never be unhappy again is actually pretty naive.

Suddenly Zen was very practical and applicable (it always was, I just couldn't see it) and not some esoteric process focused on acquiring an inachievable state of bliss.
Jundo has mentioned that Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen and other books from that time painted a misleading picture that many Western minds seeking escape latched on to. I agree with his assessment as that was one of my first introductions to Zen and I made the exact same assumptions.

In actual fact, I was hindering my own "progress" (there is nowhere to progress to) by trying to get "there" (no here, no there...).
In life, as in shikantaza, dropping the metaphorical hammer you're hitting yourself with (reference to Jundo's video!) you get out of your own way.


I read somewhere that it's kind of like two mirrors facing each other and in your efforts to see infinity your own stupid head gets in the way and blocks the view! Lol

Creating some separation between my self and the steady stream of preferences between my ears is a nutshell explanation of how Zen practice has benefited my existence.
Nichi nichi kore kōnichi as someone very wise once said: "every day is a good day".
When happy, chop wood, carry water. When sad chop wood, carry water.

Just sit.

Gassho,
Hoko
#SatToday/LAH

[Jundo]

IMG_0479.JPG

Sometimes I wear a wig too.



Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

I take it that you are being serious, because it would not be appropriate to joke about these things (even in Texas).

There are actually a few figures in modern and ancient Buddhist history who were so. A modern figure is Issan Dorsey, the wonderful Teacher and humanitarian from San Francisco ...



https://antinousforeverybody.wordpre.../issan-dorsey/

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Jakuden]

I take it that you are being serious, because it would not be appropriate to joke about these things (even in Texas).

There are actually a few figures in modern and ancient Buddhist history who were so. A modern figure is Issan Dorsey, the wonderful Teacher and humanitarian from San Francisco ...



https://antinousforeverybody.wordpre.../issan-dorsey/

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

I wonder if he should be added to our disabled ancestor list?

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Jundo]

I wonder if he should be added to our disabled ancestor list?

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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No, I don't feel so, because this is not a disability. It is someone's way of life. Of course anything, even a fixation on appearance and clothing in any form, can do us all harm (Issan also had other issues with drugs and promiscuity that were harmful and which he rejected). However, just feeling comfortable dressing a certain way is nothing more than what makes someone happy.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Jakuden]

No, I don't feel so, because this is not a disability. It is someone's way of life. Of course anything, even a fixation on appearance and clothing in any form, can do us all harm (Issan also had other issues with drugs and promiscuity that were harmful and which he rejected). However, just feeling comfortable dressing a certain way is nothing more than what makes someone happy.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Sorry, I was unclear, I was referring to the fact that he lived with AIDS and set up the hospice.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Jundo]

Sorry, I was unclear, I was referring to the fact that he lived with AIDS and set up the hospice.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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I see. It is a good suggestion. Perhaps we can update this section to include those with all manner of illnesses, which would include AIDS. We have tended to avoid including by name very recent people in the list.

Those men and women, each and all Teachers in their way, who have struggled with addictions, confusion, depression and mental conditions often misunderstood.

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

[Jakuden]

I see. It is a good suggestion. Perhaps we can update this section to include those with all manner of illnesses, which would include AIDS. We have tended to avoid including by name very recent people in the list.

Those men and women, each and all Teachers in their way, who have struggled with addictions, confusion, depression and mental conditions often misunderstood.

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

Yes... so many people and yet so marginalized that they are hard for us to find. I’m sure many of them would have been satisfied with just some health and peace, in light of the topic of the thread... sometimes we may forget what health and safety we do already have in our pursuit of “happiness.“

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


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[Ryudo]

Butiful/interesting thread.
Thank you.

Gassho
Ryudo/SatToday

[Tairin]

Wonderful post Hoko!


Tairin
Sat today

[Jishin]

I take it that you are being serious, because it would not be appropriate to joke about these things (even in Texas).

There are actually a few figures in modern and ancient Buddhist history who were so. A modern figure is Issan Dorsey, the wonderful Teacher and humanitarian from San Francisco ...



https://antinousforeverybody.wordpre.../issan-dorsey/

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Hi Jundo,

I not being serious. That said, In my world it is perfectly normal to joke like this. Without going into to too much detail:

---My deceased father was gay.

---His surviving lover is who I consider my real father. My children, consider him grandpa "Bill" but sometimes we call him "Billy Jean" - an affectionate name. Bill's current lover is also "Granpa" Trey.

---I am privy to the wonderful gay world culture which includes a sometimes twisted sense of humor (my dad's sense of humor was super twisted).

---I mourned with my family the death of a significant portion of friends during the 80's with AIDS.

---We currently have gay friends and my wife's best friend is gay.

---I had no trouble sharing with the US Navy my confused sexuality as a teen leading to an early but honorable discharge.

---Study the Kinsey scale.


I am in the "In" and I can get away with kidding around while some can't. I wish the dividing lines of race, sex, gender, etc etc would dissolve so people were not so uptight about kidding around.

Likewise, I can get away with Jewish jokes and many other topics because of the same reasons. The problem is this mean of communication. It does not capture the whole picture.

TMI, I know but I am sure that there are tons of people out there who don't talk about this sort of thing when in fact it is perfectly normal. An interesting fact is that according the the DSM III you were considered mentally ill if you were gay but in 1972 the manual was changed and it was no longer considered an illness.

I think it is appropriate if you think it so and not appropriate if you think it so.

Anyway, there is the background for my humor.



Gasho, Jishin, ST

[Kyonin]

Hi all,

In our western way of thinking we assume that happiness is to live without discomfort, surrounded by love and have a solid bank account that covers for all our needs. I think many new schools of Buddhism capitalize on this in order to bring in new people.

However, and this is what kept me in Zen practice, is the fact that happiness is much closer to equanimity than to bliss. We don't push aside what we don't like nor we go about editing life. We observe things as they are and surf the waves of samsara. If we have to go through pain, we just do that without creating drama. If we are enjoying a concert or a relaxed afternoon with the family, we just do that without falling into euphoria.

A lot of people tell me I some kind of Vulcan that hides his feelings. Not at all. I laugh like mad when enjoying a comedy or a joke. I cry like a baby when sad things happen. It's just that feelings come, they stay the time they need to stay and then equanimity comes in again.

Now to get to this point we need to make zazen part of our lives and maybe after some years of practice, we would slowly live in equanimity. I think that's why Zen practice is not so popular :P

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Jundo]

Hi Jundo,

I not being serious. That said, In my world it is perfectly normal to joke like this. Without going into to too much detail:

---My deceased father was gay.

Hi Jishin,

I understand. Some folks, however, might misunderstand here in our current day when folks are very sensitive to such things, so best to say this. Folks don't get this kind of joke so easily sometimes.

My brother was gay too, in the 1950s. He struggled a lot with that fact because it was hard to be a gay man then, was estranged from some in my family. He died a few years ago.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Doshin]

I continue to learn. Thank you eveyone,

Doshin
St

[Mitka]

Buddhism and especially Zen have always, especially in the North Asian formulations, had more emphasis on finding peace in this life, not only in some future life or realm.

Oh yes. I mentioned the switch from otherworldliness to thiswordliness just to note that I think it is Western culture that is having this influence on Buddhism, just as it is on traditionally otherworldly religions like Christianity. Since Buddhism always emphasized “salvation” in this world, it was tailor-made, I think, to appeal to hedonistically burnt-out Westerners hungry for happiness.

Second, some of the modern Teachers, if you look closely, are actually doing a bit of "bate and switch" on their use of "happiness," which turns out to be much as the "joyous and content to be joyful, joyous and content to be sad, joyous and content to be healthy, joyous and content to be sick sometimes" aspect that you hear around here quite often. I have spoken about this and all the Dalai Lama's books on "happiness":

I didn’t mean to disparage any teachers (and you are right, Eckhart Tolle, for example, teaches exactly what you describe). I think happiness is quite a worthy goal, if rightly understood. And I certainly wouldn’t be practicing myself if I didn’t think my practice would bring more peace and calm into my life.

Personally though I wonder if “happiness” is the right word to use when describing the kind of peace that comes with enlightenment. I would say a better term would be “equanimity.” The Buddha taught the way to remove suffering… not necessarily the way to be happy. Removing suffering, of course, is an excellent foundation for happiness, but then again one will not always be happy while walking the path. You cannot be happy to have brain cancer, for example, nor can you be happy to go into a dangerous surgery to remove the tumor knowing that you might die on the table and may never see your loved ones again. But you can certainly accept that that is the way things are and not make it out to be a problem, and enjoy the remaining time with your family (which may be your last) while you still have time. Nor can you be happy when a loved one dies. But you certainly can be at peace about it, even through the tears.

Also I think a lot of spiritual seekers are confused as to what they mean by the word happiness. Many take their idea of happiness wholesale from Western culture. If you look at advertising, our account of happiness is entirely external. Wealth, fame, having lots of friends, being the toast of a party, going on adventures, accomplishing something everybody thought would be impossible. According to our culture, being “happy” is a life of stimulations, flitting from dinner parties to mountain climbing to driving a brand new Audi on the Autobahn to starting a new relationship to winning the Nobel Peace Prize. This gets translated to “When I become enlightened, then my life will really start. People will love me, they will line up outside my door to venerate me and listen to my wisdom. I will be the talk of the town, thousands will come from all over the world to see me. I will experience great peace and contentment, and I won’t have any problems, and I will write beautiful books that thousands of people will buy and I will make a lot of money, and I will use the money to spread my teaching to every corner of the world, and everyone will know my name, and life will be a grand adventure.”

I used to think like this, actually.

Sometimes this “happiness” even includes material wealth. Through the “law of attraction” once you stop grasping after material things, they come to you anyways. Or, another way I have heard it expressed: keeping the ego in place uses up so much energy that once it is gone, all this mental energy is freed up to be put to use and naturally you become more efficient and your work is of higher quality which can then lead to more value being assigned to you and thus more material wealth.

Frankly, if somebody just wanted to be "happy happy happy", I think there are pharmaceuticals that will do the job faster and deeper than any meditation ... at least for a short time.

I sometimes think that the Tibetans writers chose the word "Happiness" in their literature to impress Westerners. The problem is that some folks may hear that and think that they are going to find the key to 24/7 "laughing gas" happiness ... and are a bit disappointed when in fact what is delivered is something much more subtle (though fathomlessly richer).

I quite agree. There is a disconnect there, and maybe the word “happiness” was not very well chosen. Especially during the 60s and 70s Westerners looked at meditation as a natural way to get high. That view has been mostly relegated to the trash bin, I believe, but still I think even today a lot of people have a vague idea that being enlightened will mean they will walk through the rest of their life with Cloud Nines mysteriously appearing under each and every one of their footsteps. Happiness is equated with peak experiences. Thus the attraction of drugs, and dangerous sports like BASE jumping, and ecstatic spiritual experiences like being born again, kundalini awakening and kensho.That’s not the kind of happiness the Buddha was talking about, as you pointed out.

But, whether understood correctly or not, I guess my original point was that a lot of people in the West are interested in enlightenment because of the promise of happiness it will give them. Generalizing here,forgive me, but it seems to means that Westerners are not interested in pie-in-the-sky promises like heaven or a Pure Land, existing outside of the samsaric or dimensional cycle as bodiless energy after death, bodiless consciousness, or what have you. They want real, concrete solutions to fix the problems in their lives and enhance their quality of living. And I think that is the soteriological environment that Buddhism entered when it migrated to the West.

However, I still go with the "old school" Zen folks who offered that our Way provided some real answers to "Big Questions" like the following. Even though it seems like fewer people come to Buddhism these days seeking such answers (I wonder what a survey would reveal), I do feel that Zen Practice really does provide answers to such questions, and that such is still a (the?) central point of Practice. In fact, it is much of what I look at in Talks by me on Master Dogen, Koans and the like.

These answers, by the way, are not always complete answers that our small human thoughts can grasp, and sometimes the "answer" is more like a sense (like a child trying to grasp the adult world). But they are solid answers nonetheless. I also feel that they are "reasonable" (although not always according to our "common sense" ordinary reason that only experiences a world of separate, individual things), and that most of the answers offered seem to be perfectly in keeping (i.e., free of apparent conflicts, and with much similarity in perspectives) with modern perspectives of physics, brain science and the rest of modern science about how the universe and mind are structured:


- Who are we in the universe?

- Where do we come from when born, and where do we go when we seem to die?

- What is the purpose and best way to live in between that birth and death?

I used to agonize over questions like this, and it did make me unhappy. Given how much science has eroded metaphysics in today’s world, and how people won’t except answers to questions that cannot be verified without repeated experiments, I believe Buddhism does the best job at answering these questions in a satisfactory method. For me, at least, but I would also say for multitudes of others. And it is interesting to see the various connections between Buddhism and modern physics… the behavior of elemental particles, for example, flitting in and out of existence, sounds a lot like the doctrine of shunyata. And through ecology we have learned about the endless relationship between all things (which interestingly enough, for me at least, makes watching documentaries on ecology or astronomy a sort of spiritual experience). I am largely released from the agony I once felt over such questions. Now I take a “we shall see, and won’t it be wonderful!” approach to them, especially the one about death.

In that way, Buddhism has made me a happier person.

I'm glad Jundo used the word "contentment." I haven't achieved lasting happiness through zen, or really even increased happiness. But I have greatly increased my ability to be content. When things go wrong, it's okay to not be okay, and still realize that not being okay is okay. That's being content.

Shinshou
Sat today

Contentment is a far better word, yes. A lot of misunderstanding can be created by using the word “happiness” too freely.

This hits home for me.
Thank you to Matthew for the original post and thank you to Jundo for his insightful commentary.

When I first came to Zen it was to attain enlightenment which I had conflated with happiness.
I think a lot of Westerners do this because we're taught that being unhappy is bad and we should never be unhappy and if we're every unhappy for any reason it's clearly someone else's fault and we need to sue them into giving us money so we can buy more stuff which will, of course, make us happy...

Well it didn't pan out for me (neither did alcoholism or anti-depressants, btw) so I put it in the "tried it" pile and moved on.
I went off and played around with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and made a deep exploration of Martin Seligman's research on happiness.
Again, no dice.
Dukkha, but no dice...

But I came back to Zen when I read a little more about "attainment mindset" and realized that Zen wasn't about achieving whiz-bang all the time happiness.
In fact, the idea that you're supposed to be happy all the time or that by achieving some temporary peak experience (kensho?) you'll never be unhappy again is actually pretty naive.

Suddenly Zen was very practical and applicable (it always was, I just couldn't see it) and not some esoteric process focused on acquiring an inachievable state of bliss.
Jundo has mentioned that Philip Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen and other books from that time painted a misleading picture that many Western minds seeking escape latched on to. I agree with his assessment as that was one of my first introductions to Zen and I made the exact same assumptions.

In actual fact, I was hindering my own "progress" (there is nowhere to progress to) by trying to get "there" (no here, no there...).
In life, as in shikantaza, dropping the metaphorical hammer you're hitting yourself with (reference to Jundo's video!) you get out of your own way.

I read somewhere that it's kind of like two mirrors facing each other and in your efforts to see infinity your own stupid head gets in the way and blocks the view! Lol

Creating some separation between my self and the steady stream of preferences between my ears is a nutshell explanation of how Zen practice has benefited my existence.
Nichi nichi kore kōnichi as someone very wise once said: "every day is a good day".
When happy, chop wood, carry water. When sad chop wood, carry water.

Just sit.

Gassho,
Hoko
#SatToday/LAH

A great post Hoko, thank you for taking the time to write. I am very similar. I initially came to Zen throught the Three Pillars of Zen book you mentioned, excited to go to battle with my mind and win a great victory. The unenthusiasm I met with here for that sort of thing was offputting, and I went elsewhere, instead of sticking around and seeing what this place had to offer. I was looking for happiness, conceived as a sort of “permanent peak experience.” Life doesn’t work that way, and I am learning that giving up on the search and allowing myself to be sad on sad days and happy on happy day is indeed a much richer way to live. Either way, I will continue chopping wood and carrying water.

Hi all,

In our western way of thinking we assume that happiness is to live without discomfort, surrounded by love and have a solid bank account that covers for all our needs. I think many new schools of Buddhism capitalize on this in order to bring in new people.

Yes, and that it a shame because Buddhism offers so much more than that kind of artificial happiness. Such a happiness is impossible to attain in a world of impermanence, that is the first of the Noble Truths.

Now to get to this point we need to make zazen part of our lives and maybe after some years of practice, we would slowly live in equanimity. I think that's why Zen practice is not so popular :P

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

At least not shikantaza. Over a ready-made solution like koan meditation that promises a quick solution to life’s problems (I believe roshis who use koan meditations tell practioners that they can attain enlightenment that very sitting if they concentrate hard enough, though from the kensho accounts in Pillars of Zen it appears to take a lot longer than that).

Thanks to everyone for all your replies, I'm still new hear and learning, and it is a joy to learn so much about Zen and the way from you all. My gratitude and gashho,

Matthew
SAT

[Geika]

Not to be too triggered, but the desire to cross dress isn't necessarily due to being gay, straight, bisexual or transexual. There are transvestites in all "categories". Just wanted to put that out there. I am very close to some complicated people, lol.

Jishin, I love you, but when someone starts ticking off a list of all the gay (or black, or Jewish, or Muslim, or (insert label), etc.) people they know just so that they can justify something that others may find rude, is kind of... you know. It's like when someone starts a sentence by saying, "I'm not racist, but..." I think the key with joking around is to know your audience. I am right with you, trust me. I share a pretty messed up sense of humor. Half of my friends are gay, and you're right, the humor is there. However, I can't joke the same way around my grandmother, or even Jundo (who has a pretty good sense of humor), as I might joke in private with my in-the-closet transvestite best friend, who was born male, identifies as male, happens to be bi-curious, and at the same time hetero-monogamous and married. Yep. People are very complicated! If I joked with him in public about wearing his wife's clothing, he would be absolutely mortified. In private, we are laughing our asses off.

I guess my point is this, no matter how many gay or transvestite people you know, you still don't know what it feels like to be them. And by this I don't mean that you've never questioned your sexuality or anything like that. What I mean is, nobody knows what it feels like to be anybody else. I think humor is key to healing a lot of divisions. I am pretty easy going, but your jokes about wearing drag for fun hurt my feelings when I realized that you weren't telling the truth. Not me, personally, but my feelings were hurt for a friend who can't do that. If you had been completely serious, not only would it have worked for the thread, but I would be quite happy with the amount of honesty going on around here!

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Jishin]

Yes. You are right Geika. I should use better discretion. I am glad you hang out with interesting people.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Also I think a lot of spiritual seekers are confused as to what they mean by the word happiness. Many take their idea of happiness wholesale from Western culture. If you look at advertising, our account of happiness is entirely external. Wealth, fame, having lots of friends, being the toast of a party, going on adventures, accomplishing something everybody thought would be impossible. According to our culture, being “happy” is a life of stimulations, flitting from dinner parties to mountain climbing to driving a brand new Audi on the Autobahn to starting a new relationship to winning the Nobel Peace Prize. This gets translated to “When I become enlightened, then my life will really start. People will love me, they will line up outside my door to venerate me and listen to my wisdom. I will be the talk of the town, thousands will come from all over the world to see me. I will experience great peace and contentment, and I won’t have any problems, and I will write beautiful books that thousands of people will buy and I will make a lot of money, and I will use the money to spread my teaching to every corner of the world, and everyone will know my name, and life will be a grand adventure.”

I so much agree. You really express things well, I feel.

... I guess my original point was that a lot of people in the West are interested in enlightenment because of the promise of happiness it will give them. Generalizing here,forgive me, but it seems to means that Westerners are not interested in pie-in-the-sky promises like heaven or a Pure Land, existing outside of the samsaric or dimensional cycle as bodiless energy after death, bodiless consciousness, or what have you. They want real, concrete solutions to fix the problems in their lives and enhance their quality of living. And I think that is the soteriological environment that Buddhism entered when it migrated to the West.

I feel so too. And, although the "Happiness" that is offered may be more "equanimity" and being at home in life "as it is," it is still a real "concrete solution to fix the problems in [peoples'] lives and enhance their quality of life." Being "at peace" with one's life, even a life that is not always feeling "peaceful," is a wonderful ability which actually may let us focus and solve some of those problems.

We also offer a real transcendence of certain "problems" in life, such as those related to death, sickness and loss. The result I sometimes describe is that one may have "fear" and "no fear" at the same time, a "problem" and "no problem" at the same time. Sometimes more one or the other, sometimes "no fear" and "no problem" at all.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Geika]

Yes. You are right Geika. I should use better discretion. I am glad you hang out with interesting people.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

I still think you are funny. I put my foot in my mouth all day. That's how I can tell when someone else might be doing it.

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Jundo]

Yes. You are right Geika. I should use better discretion. I am glad you hang out with interesting people.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

And if I was not clear, I have many friends from Texas, some of my family is from Texas, and I don't have an anti-Texas bone in my body. I like Texas BBQ (if I must) and I do not care personally if someone likes the Oilers or Cowboys (okay, a little ... I was a Dolphins fan myself). We accept Texans like Jishin as sentient beings too.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Mp]

Not to be too triggered, but the desire to cross dress isn't necessarily due to being gay, straight, bisexual or transexual. There are transvestites in all "categories". Just wanted to put that out there. I am very close to some complicated people, lol.

Jishin, I love you, but when someone starts ticking off a list of all the gay (or black, or Jewish, or Muslim, or (insert label), etc.) people they know just so that they can justify something that others may find rude, is kind of... you know. It's like when someone starts a sentence by saying, "I'm not racist, but..." I think the key with joking around is to know your audience. I am right with you, trust me. I share a pretty messed up sense of humor. Half of my friends are gay, and you're right, the humor is there. However, I can't joke the same way around my grandmother, or even Jundo (who has a pretty good sense of humor), as I might joke in private with my in-the-closet transvestite best friend, who was born male, identifies as male, happens to be bi-curious, and at the same time hetero-monogamous and married. Yep. People are very complicated! If I joked with him in public about wearing his wife's clothing, he would be absolutely mortified. In private, we are laughing our asses off.

I guess my point is this, no matter how many gay or transvestite people you know, you still don't know what it feels like to be them. And by this I don't mean that you've never questioned your sexuality or anything like that. What I mean is, nobody knows what it feels like to be anybody else. I think humor is key to healing a lot of divisions. I am pretty easy going, but your jokes about wearing drag for fun hurt my feelings when I realized that you weren't telling the truth. Not me, personally, but my feelings were hurt for a friend who can't do that. If you had been completely serious, not only would it have worked for the thread, but I would be quite happy with the amount of honesty going on around here!

Gassho, sat today, lah

Thank you for this Geika, very clear and respectfully said.

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Shinshi]

Not to be too triggered, but the desire to cross dress isn't necessarily due to being gay, straight, bisexual or transexual. There are transvestites in all "categories". Just wanted to put that out there. I am very close to some complicated people, lol.

Jishin, I love you, but when someone starts ticking off a list of all the gay (or black, or Jewish, or Muslim, or (insert label), etc.) people they know just so that they can justify something that others may find rude, is kind of... you know. It's like when someone starts a sentence by saying, "I'm not racist, but..." I think the key with joking around is to know your audience. I am right with you, trust me. I share a pretty messed up sense of humor. Half of my friends are gay, and you're right, the humor is there. However, I can't joke the same way around my grandmother, or even Jundo (who has a pretty good sense of humor), as I might joke in private with my in-the-closet transvestite best friend, who was born male, identifies as male, happens to be bi-curious, and at the same time hetero-monogamous and married. Yep. People are very complicated! If I joked with him in public about wearing his wife's clothing, he would be absolutely mortified. In private, we are laughing our asses off.

I guess my point is this, no matter how many gay or transvestite people you know, you still don't know what it feels like to be them. And by this I don't mean that you've never questioned your sexuality or anything like that. What I mean is, nobody knows what it feels like to be anybody else. I think humor is key to healing a lot of divisions. I am pretty easy going, but your jokes about wearing drag for fun hurt my feelings when I realized that you weren't telling the truth. Not me, personally, but my feelings were hurt for a friend who can't do that. If you had been completely serious, not only would it have worked for the thread, but I would be quite happy with the amount of honesty going on around here!

Gassho, sat today, lah

Hi Geika,

I thought your response was beautifully written and a wonderful sentiment.

I just want to mention that currently the term transvestite is considered slightly offense to some. This is likely due to the history of the word where "Transvestic fetishism" specifically referred to a person of one sex dressing in the clothes of the other sex and specifically for sexual gratification. It was considered a pathology.

Obviously the terms you use with your friends are the right terms for you all. But I wanted folks reading your wonderful post to be aware that some might take offense at the term. The "right terms" change all the time but most of the folks I know use the term Cross-Dresser now. Here is a link to the GLAAD web page.

https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender

Cross-dresser
While anyone may wear clothes associated with a different sex, the term cross-dresser is typically used to refer to men who occasionally wear clothes, makeup, and accessories culturally associated with women. Those men typically identify as heterosexual. This activity is a form of gender expression and not done for entertainment purposes. Cross-dressers do not wish to permanently change their sex or live full-time as women. Replaces the term "transvestite".

No big deal. Again, I love your post.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[somanaut]

Not to be too triggered, but the desire to cross dress isn't necessarily due to being gay, straight, bisexual or transexual. There are transvestites in all "categories". Just wanted to put that out there. I am very close to some complicated people, lol.

Jishin, I love you, but when someone starts ticking off a list of all the gay (or black, or Jewish, or Muslim, or (insert label), etc.) people they know just so that they can justify something that others may find rude, is kind of... you know. It's like when someone starts a sentence by saying, "I'm not racist, but..." I think the key with joking around is to know your audience. I am right with you, trust me. I share a pretty messed up sense of humor. Half of my friends are gay, and you're right, the humor is there. However, I can't joke the same way around my grandmother, or even Jundo (who has a pretty good sense of humor), as I might joke in private with my in-the-closet transvestite best friend, who was born male, identifies as male, happens to be bi-curious, and at the same time hetero-monogamous and married. Yep. People are very complicated! If I joked with him in public about wearing his wife's clothing, he would be absolutely mortified. In private, we are laughing our asses off.

I guess my point is this, no matter how many gay or transvestite people you know, you still don't know what it feels like to be them. And by this I don't mean that you've never questioned your sexuality or anything like that. What I mean is, nobody knows what it feels like to be anybody else. I think humor is key to healing a lot of divisions. I am pretty easy going, but your jokes about wearing drag for fun hurt my feelings when I realized that you weren't telling the truth. Not me, personally, but my feelings were hurt for a friend who can't do that. If you had been completely serious, not only would it have worked for the thread, but I would be quite happy with the amount of honesty going on around here!

Gassho, sat today, lah

Isn't "Not to be too triggered, but..." almost the same as "I am not a racist, but..."?
On that topic, and Jundo's observation, that the reason many people seek Zen, meditation etc. today is very different from when he started it. It strikes me as noteworthy, that Zen (in a huge broad sweeping overgeneralization) has changed very much just in the 20 years, that I have been acquainted with it. If one looks at premodern and modern texts, Zen sanghas (which autocorrect like to change to "sangrias" for some reason) were brutal places. For the spirit and for the body. Submit or die. Todays Zen in many places, are less strict, open to change, and seem genuinely willing to accept everyone. Yes there are still rules, but far less strict than when I first encountered. But then again, Buddhism has always been very adaptable. And as it seeks to expand it's share of the spiritual market place, it must at least in some part adapt to these conditions. And at least in the US Zen seems to be doing quite well. I think a lot of strange marketing mechanisms goes on, when one tries to "sell" buddhism and/or Zen outside of Asia. And I am not a fan of the bait and switch than happens quite often, as was stated earlier. I think it's dishonest. I understand why it is done, but I do not agree with the method. Now before I come of as a traditionalist (in what sense anyway), let me point out, that I am not. Ex. while I don't practise it, I appreciate mindfulness (not the Mcmindfulness of course), even if I think they at times oversell themselves (and a couple of new metastudies showed mindfulness was no as an effective strategy as it proclaims). I think that it is wonderful that specific practices get taken out of buddhist context and reused. It again forced the tradition to evolve. There are rituals, principle, practises in Zen that is more Japanese than Zen, and are in no way essential to it's practice. I assume most Zen priests/monks would disagree.
Sat Today
Jesper

[Geika]

Shinshi, I remember having read that about the term "transvestite" some time ago, now that you bring it to my attention. I will watch that from now on, thanks.

Jesper, I realize how I sounded when I started my post off with "Not to be too triggered, but..." Looking back, it was a poor choice of words considering what I wrote. I guess what I was trying to say was this: "I really don't know if I want to articulate what I'm about to write because I don't want to come across as humorless, and this probably won't bug me as much tomorrow as it does today."

I very much dislike being the person that takes offense. Rereading Jishin's post made me realize that despite the fact I was briefly offended, my opinions on humor are pretty much the same as his. It was a personal matter for me yesterday, but really I was just taking offense for someone I care about who never saw the thread and never will. It would be up to him to be offended, not me. Jishin got the point from Jundo, I didn't need to butt in. Today I am just disappointed in myself for hijacking a thread, although I appreciate that a few people found my post thoughtful.

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Jishin]

Hi Geika,

I think yours posts are timely and measured. I get carried away and need help putting the breaks on.



Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Rendulic]

I think that even the conceptions of happiness are subtle and varied. From Aristotle’s “human flourishing” to the fairly hedonic concepts many of us think about, and on through the Positive Psychology vision of “flow,” there are as many types of happiness as there are people. This points me to the truth that perhaps “happiness” is subjective. So happiness is clearly without permanence and void of intrinsic self-nature.

That’ not a bad thing. Balancing the mundane and sublime is part of the challenge of practicing meditation and attempting a posture of equanimity.

Gassho, Rendulic

Sat today LAH

[Sekiyuu]

I've always had trouble with happiness, because when I was a teenager and young adult I decided that it was ultimately impossible to achieve; the best was "contendedness" when I felt nothing was particularly good or bad. Happiness was something where all achievements were achieved and there was no possibility of feeling bad because everything was great. Looking back it's easy to see why I thought it was impossible.

I'm trying to crack that nut currently, to allow myself to feel happy just as much I should allow myself to feel sad, depressed, angry, annoyed, or whatever. Feeling happy is still difficult, because now I know fully that it will be gone and in the future I'll think back to when I was happy and feel sad simply because I can't do the impossible and live in the past.

I really don't like poetry, at least anything longer than a haiku, but for some reason this poem that I recently came across (listening to an SFZC dharma talk) really speaks to this topic for me.

A Brief for the Defense (by Jack Gilbert)
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.

Gassho,
Kenny
Sat Today

[Jundo]

I've always had trouble with happiness, because when I was a teenager and young adult I decided that it was ultimately impossible to achieve; the best was "contendedness" when I felt nothing was particularly good or bad. Happiness was something where all achievements were achieved and there was no possibility of feeling bad because everything was great. Looking back it's easy to see why I thought it was impossible.

I'm trying to crack that nut currently, to allow myself to feel happy just as much I should allow myself to feel sad, depressed, angry, annoyed, or whatever. Feeling happy is still difficult, because now I know fully that it will be gone and in the future I'll think back to when I was happy and feel sad simply because I can't do the impossible and live in the past.

I really don't like poetry, at least anything longer than a haiku, but for some reason this poem that I recently came across (listening to an SFZC dharma talk) really speaks to this topic for me.

Hi Kenny,

Thank you for sharing, and the amazing poem.

I did not want to leave people with the impression from this thread that we just have to be rather "numb, stiff upper lip content," and can't be happy. In fact, we can be oh so very laughing and happy about every happy event in life, sad and teary eyed when we are sad, and even overidingly Big J Joyous for both those facts. Smile, laugh, thrill to life's bright moments.

I am finishing up the Introduction to my new book today, and it touches on this. I quote myself. I began to write this when I was in the hospital for my cancer operation last year:

==============

Zen Masters say “Every Day is a Good Day,” (in Japanese, “Nichi nichi kore kōnichi” or 日々是好日) The world is going as the world must go. My Teacher, Gudo Wafu Nishijima Roshi, used to describe the most fundamental beliefs of Buddhism as “resting upon a solid foundation of thoroughgoing and deep optimism, a positive acceptance and profound sentiment of ‘being right at home’ in this world, here and now. This life, this world, is ‘just what-it-is,’ not to be avoided, not to be escaped or fled.” (from ‘A Heart-to-Heart Chat on Buddhism with Old Master Gudo’). There is some subtle Beauty and Rightness that holds the cosmos together. There is a Goodness which transcends all small human judgments of right and wrong, good and bad.

Yet, watching the news from my hospital bed, endless images of war, tragedy and sadness fill the screen, stories of human beings including small children who are suffering, so much ugliness and brokenness in so many places. I wish that I could fix this world, end the wars once and for all, comfort the children, right injustice. There are so many bad things in the world, together with much good.

Which way of seeing the world is right?

An amazing aspect of Zen, the essence of the Wisdom and Compassion at its very center, is that it allows all such views and viewpoints to be true at once, and each in their way. They all have their place, are appropriate as a perspective, and there is not the least conflict among such ideas and emotions that might appear at first to be directly opposed. Truly, I am experiencing all such ways of encountering life tonight. I am a sick man in a bed, a little lonely and very afraid … yet my heart flies free for there is never a drop of fear or wall in the universe to hold me. 35 years of Zen Practice have allowed me to handle and balance all these feelings and perspectives at once, no conflict in the least amid a mix of sometimes conflicted human feelings. No, it is not some strange mental disease, but the very cure for human dis-ease in encountering life. It is balanced, healthful, effective, and oh-so-wise (in my humble opinion). Fearlessness yet fear, Peace amid chaos, Goodness manifesting as good and bad, all fitting together in Harmony (notice how I capitalize some words to distinguish from ordinary feelings) with nothing to be rejected, each perfuming and clarifying the other. My Joy and Trust know no limits simultaneously with tears wetting my cheeks - when my loved one dies and I miss her, when I fear that I might die, when another war is fought somewhere on this planet, when the world seems sometimes so hopeless, the past imperfect and the future unknown..

How is that possible? How can one know life in such seemingly “opposite” ways at once?

...

It is a way of being, experiencing life from several angles (and angle-less) all at once. Not only in cancer wards of hospitals, but whenever and whenever life presents us human beings with troubles, loss, frustrations, disappointments big and small, whether the most overwhelming trials or the downright trivial. The Zen Masters found that one can be human, experience human feelings, yet balance and transcend our human feelings. We can better avoid the truly harmful emotional reactions and thoughts, not becoming their prisoner, while drinking deep of the sweet juice of this life and the beneficial emotions. One can love and savor life very richly, yet not be addicted to life. One can feel natural sadness or fear, yet not drown in sadness and fear. In doing so, they found a way to see through our feelings, transcending our thoughts and judgments about the world, to a realm of Wholeness and Flowing beyond all loss and gain, division and conflict, this and that, me and you, coming and going … even beyond birth and death (as one realizes such Wholeness which just flows on and on before, as and after our little lives). It is a most Peaceful and Complete “seeing beyond” all of life’s “full catastrophe” (to quote ‘Zorba the Greek’) which, the Zen Masters discovered, is not ever “beyond” at all. All we need do is open our eyes in Zazen to see what is manifesting here all along. The Whole and Flowing, Peaceful Completion is fully present and dancing right in/as/through our world of broken things, a Thusness free of conflict that is simultaneously present in the heart of the seeming conflicts and disturbances, war and peace, impermanence, life and death. One might say that the former is disguised as the latter. Thus, it is possible to feel sadness with no sadness at all, grief at death yet beyond death, fear and freedom from any fear as one.

Crazy sounding, perhaps, but so very Wise-Crazy.

==============

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Jakuden]

Love

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shinshou]

I've always had trouble with happiness, because when I was a teenager and young adult I decided that it was ultimately impossible to achieve; the best was "contendedness" when I felt nothing was particularly good or bad. Happiness was something where all achievements were achieved and there was no possibility of feeling bad because everything was great. Looking back it's easy to see why I thought it was impossible.

I'm trying to crack that nut currently, to allow myself to feel happy just as much I should allow myself to feel sad, depressed, angry, annoyed, or whatever. Feeling happy is still difficult, because now I know fully that it will be gone and in the future I'll think back to when I was happy and feel sad simply because I can't do the impossible and live in the past.

I really don't like poetry, at least anything longer than a haiku, but for some reason this poem that I recently came across (listening to an SFZC dharma talk) really speaks to this topic for me.


Gassho,
Kenny
Sat Today

Kenny, my experience with the first noble truth is not just that life will contain suffering, but that even the "good" things contain the seed of suffering, because at our core we know everything is impermanent, and that thing will eventually come to an end. My experience of contentedness isn't a feeling of nothing, but rather one of enjoyment-without-grasping in spite of the knowledge that enjoyment is temporary.

Shinshou
Sat today

[Jundo]

Kenny, my experience with the first noble truth is not just that life will contain suffering, but that even the "good" things contain the seed of suffering, because at our core we know everything is impermanent, and that thing will eventually come to an end. My experience of contentedness isn't a feeling of nothing, but rather one of enjoyment-without-grasping in spite of the knowledge that enjoyment is temporary.

Shinshou
Sat today

Painting with a broad brush, generally, the South Asian Buddhist Traditions have interpreted this "life is suffering" and "all things are impermanent" to mean that one must "get out of Dodge," escape the cycle of Rebirth completely, hope for good rebirths in the meantime, and cool and still the emotions as best one can (especially for monastics). As I said, painting with too broad a brush really, because people everywhere know when to smile.

The Northern (Mahayana) Buddhist Traditions, and especially Zen, have been more focused on liberation in this life, in this body, and more openness to ordinary human emotions, accepting the joys and sadness of this life, and celebrating this life. That does not mean that Zen monastics crack up in the middle of funerals, but most I have met do know when to laugh.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Tai Shi]

Planes, Hearts, and Joints

I sit most days with physical
My arm with elbow tight
My new knee with titanium joint
My neck with fore discs so bright
Mine is the disease of joints
Ankylosing Spondylitis can you
Say the syllables that is the point
Before I say retire will you say
My day is Bengal Tiger
Or Vietnamese Cardiologist
Dr. Pham escaped to a place
My heart's pacemaker into
This no-hair chest, wonder
Thousands of men like me
Write of Courage to Be
Buddha universal being
From the desire to desire, one
Finds form in a personal pyre
Beware day's spring warms joints
Places never visited on days
Fortune reads wired news
Personal criticisms never visited
Never asked for, the reason
My Cardiologist says my heart
Will last another 10 years
He tells me stories about
Escaping socialism
Becoming boatman at age fourteen
His only desire to make US show
Become a doctor, swam to fishing
Boat, taken to foster family
Sure we have a bed, father, mother
Slaughtered as father had fought
Along with US soldiers, boy
Becoming doctor says he knows
My joints drive me crazy, I say
Not like too much drink 30 years
Ago, we say together, there's always
Something deep within, now
We are free from the tiger who
Is not free in India, nor snow leopard
Off endangered lists, he climbs one
More High mountain, as one's
Partner escaped to the Pali
Rejecting Mahayana, Theravada,
We both practice freedom no one
Can say he's not met our fire, upon
Fire, we are both in our sixties
He says he'll never retire he's
The most loved surgeon at Sanford
Hospital, I'm lucky to have health
Undone, nothing left undone, dove depends
In fire as jets flame over the head, Spitfire,
So many without a doctor left to die
Oh, Buddha, we sit in Metta, Metta.


Tai Shi
sat toda/lah
Gassho