Doggone (not to be in any way confused with Dōgen) thought he could muscle his way to "meditation" (zen,jhana, dhyana).
He had to find out the hard way, the American Zen way, that efforting is no way to arrive at the subtle, sublime, and effortless bliss of letting go and letting reality realize itself.
It only gets in the way since, ultimately-speaking, there is no self, no doer, nothing but ignorance (delusion, the opposite ofenlightenment) that gets in the way of Truth.
Of course, try to tell that to Doggone. H*ll no! He's going to kick ass, achieve, attain, and win the stream of the wisdom, the Dharma, do-it-your-self-realization.
You'll see, you bunch of sitting sissies!
Yoga is easy when you've got the muscles for it...and core strength for Upward Facing Dog.
Have you noticed how a lot of American Buddhists are bunch of sissies, snowflakes, and crybabies? Crying when they meditate, can't press into full lotus, and everything has to be so PC all the time? I'm going to do my Zen practice with viriya -- always mindful, purely vegetarian, ultra concentrated, and uber compassionate, with no ego. I mean, you can muscle these things, right? If Dōgen can do it, so can I. Look at these guns! "Nirvana or Bust"! That's what my tattoo is going to say...or my headstone. I'll report on my progress to my girl guru Ananda. Join me!
See, Doggone, the thing is, you're "efforting." You're trying to muscle it. It doesn't work that way. It just doesn't. But a fool who persists in his folly, there's something to be said for that. There's something to learn by that approach, like Sid did under the first tree. It was a sal (not a bodhi) tree. He pushed it to the extreme ascetic limit and nearly died. So carry on.
If Zen, Taoism, and Chinese Chan are all about being spontaneous and "natural," how can anyone will it? Christians and Jews joke, "If you want to make God (or the Universe) laugh, tell it your plans." Karma works in mysterious ways. How can you push it or "do" it? It just is. Let it be. Allow it rather than forcing it. Here, take a lesson from Zen Women.
(RTÉ News) RTE is an Irish public broadcast service (Wiki) April 22, 2022: A dedicated centre for Zen Buddhism in the Republic of Ireland officially opens in Dublin city centre. The new sanctuary is located in the heart of Temple Bar, where Reverend Myōzan Kōdō, who has been practicing Zen Buddhism for decades, is the guiding teacher.
Zen Buddhism is a Japanese school of Buddhism with an emphasis on Shikantaza or "just sitting" meditation. It can be challenging for newer members because it involves sitting in silence for what may seem like a lengthy period [almost an hour, but often an eternity of 20 minutes]. Head monk at the Dublin Zen Centre Hōdo Gomoku said the practice grounds him, enabling him to "stay awake" in the world and sit in the moment.
Keep up to date with all the latest Irish and international news and current affairs with rte.ie/news Follow us on twitter @rtenews and on Facebook: rtenews.RTÉ News
There's a time and place for joyful exertion.
Once upon a time there was a man who thought he knew better. He was going to muscle his way to meditation. Why listen to Zen Master Dōgen when you can just achieve the same thing by force of will and exertion, effort and strength of manly energy (viriya)? That man, let's call him "Doggone," found out.
Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind
What happened, DG?
"Uh, I guess it's harder than it looks. Punching something is easy, benching your body weight is easy, screaming [and grunting] is easy. But relaxing, no, softening, no, staying quiet, no."
Now, maybe, you'll listen. Let's put an Irish spin on it. Once upon another time, there was a soft spoken but willful lass named Maura O'Halloran.
She was dissatisfied living in and around Boston. She was meant to do something in this life. So she traveled to Japan to go Zen. There she became "Soshin" and so impressed the Sensei (Zen teacher) that she was dubbed a Western bodhisattva.
(Myozan Kodo) How to Sit Zenis a series that begins with what to do with the body, our smart vehicle to awakening. Rather than overcoming it, we celebrate it and make it comfortable enough to relax but not so comfortable we are lulled into sleepiness or sluggishness. It's a fine balance. "Zen" means dhyan' or jhana, "meditative absorption." One need not set it as a goal or ambition, which could ruin it by creating expectations and stress. It is enough to relax, let go, and stay on the breath, which is the next step after understanding what we do with the body. Rev. Myozan Kodo is an instructor at Zen Buddhism Ireland (zenbuddhism.ie).
"Lisa, can you teach me Japanese. I said, 'Hai, hai'!"
Men versus Women: Survive the Wilderness for $500,000
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Why are men JERKS? Solutions for boys
.
What is gender, what are gender roles, sexism?
(Awaken with JP) What if there were a way for poor dumb men to get with the program, read between the lines, decode, codeswitch, understand, and figure it out already? For that, there's the Manslater. But whether they do or do not get their heads out of their [blanks], there are now Man Scripts to help them. Finally, get those pretty little head out of the clouds and down to this earth. There are words, and there are meanings, and they are not the same, Guys. Geez, get a clue! Read these to your partners, and you'll be just fine. Our tough meditation student, Doggone, was always learning. And what he learned was to always get the last word when arguing with his girlfriend. How do you think that went? Actually, it went great...but that may have something to do with what he said. Sure, he always got the last word in, but that word was, "Yes, dear." Now you, too, can be like Doggone and heel. 🤐
AwakenwithJP, YouTube, 2020; I. Rony and the men of Wisdom Quarterly
It might be good if Ananda's student, the struggling American meditator "Doggone," not to be confused with Ven. Dōgen, could learn from former soldier in the U.S. military Ven. Scott, who has found peace through Zen practice, which includes a lot of Taoist philosophy (and probably a sizeable amount of Confucianism and Shinto, too).
It's hard if not impossible to get a "pure Buddhism" as the Dharma is always steeped in a culture colored by shamanic and other preexisting spiritual traditions and philosophies.
Look, Everybody, I'm being mindful and Zen.
The West is a good example. We color the heck out of Buddhism to make it understandable, not realizing how much we're distorting what the Buddha taught. Early Buddhism was colored by Saka/Scythian (Central Asian) and Vedic proto-Indian (Brahminical, Magadhi, subcontinental views) customs and cultural baggage.
Instead of muscling through everything, efforting and straining, there's a better way that bends with the wind, goes with the flow, and thereby follows "The Way," the Tao.
Western translator and spiritual entertainer Alan Watts speaks of a great divide in outlook in Japan that developed in Buddhism: self-power (jiriki) versus other power (tariki).
Can we do the impossible and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps? Or must we rely on some higher power, an outside source, to pull us out of the mire?
In practice, the latter may make more sense or seem much easier. The former may work, but it will take subtlety and great mindfulness (sati-patthana) so that ego is not just leading ego around, self-willed as it has so long been, thinking it's getting anywhere worth going.
Let's shut up and stop talking to ourselves to see
Is Pure Land Buddhism even still Buddhism?
Will faith in something outside ourselves us save us? Yes, there are the Three Treasures, the Three Jewels to whom we can go for enlightened guidance: the historical Buddha, the early Dharma, and the noble Sangha.
It is important to qualify these words as nowadays there are lots of buddhas or alleged "supremely enlightened teachers, and many latter-day interpretations of the Dharma (the Buddha's Teaching or Doctrine), and it is not the monastic Sangha ("spiritual community") that serves as this ultimate guide but rather the "noble" (Aryan/Ariya) or enlightened community, which refers to these eight people, who may or may not be Buddhist monastics.
Or must we take responsibility for our behavior and cultivate our own direct wisdom? (Of course we must do this, but the former may help in doing it).
Two Buddhisms have developed in Japan over this vital question of tariki versus jiriki. Shall we follow the example of the historical Buddha or the later (possibly make believe) "Cosmic Buddhas," who seem more like old time Vedic/Hindu gods (brahmas and devas) than the buddhas the Buddha talked about as having taught in the distant past.
There is Amitabha, Ksitigarbha, Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin, Kwan Yin, Kwannon), Budai, or whoever. It is the Kali Yuga (the "Decadent Age") after all, as Hinduism's holy books, the Vedas, tell Mahayana Buddhists. In these dark times, blind faith will seem far more attractive to faith-types full of attachments than the letting go asked of us by wisdom, confidence (saddha, reasoned and verifiable faith, conviction), and a persevering-practice.
Sit a little every day; that is far more powerful thana marathon effort every so often. Practice is key. Even trying to sit once will make this tariki vs. jiriki debate suddenly make sense. In the meantime, listen to Alan Watts. He, though irascible with an irreducible rascality, knows a thing or two.
"San Dee" (Pfc. Sandoval) has let go of eating meat for Lent. So like Ananda's friend Doggone, who tried to muscle his way to meditation, Wisdom Quarterly asks, How's this special Buddhist-Catholic Lent going? Let's find out.
WQ: Why abstain from meat for Lent?
SD: A little research reveals that the whole reason for Lent was to give up flesh eating. [Carnival is a Latin derived term that means "remove meat."]
A pope [JP II] who wanted to popularize and grow the Universal Church (Holy Roman Catholic Empire) was a collection of pagan celebrations and beliefs for Emperor Constantine and others. The pope are the new princes of the Empire (Church). Whatever good there was got turned to serve the psyops Joseph Atwill writes about in Caesar's Messiah.
What makes a human human? Biologically it's our culture and DNA, but rebirth is NOT random. That, according to the Buddha, happens by past and present deeds (actions = karma).
What deeds lead to rebirth on the human plane (which is much wider than the surface of this planet)? It is keeping the Five Precepts, which first of all means to abstain from killing.
It's the most basic thing. Every being wants to live, wishes not to die, so how can one honestly go around killing -- or more often causing butchers to kill by paying them for the slaughtered flesh they produce in a bloody pool of salmonella and feces from the entrails? That's be pure hypocrisy. I was tired of being a hypocrite. Karma is a better way.
Not only would I not kill, I wouldn't ask anyone to kill for me
People say the Buddha didn't order anyone to do this or that. He didn't force anyone to be a vegetarian. He did, however, talk about kindness, compassion, happiness-n-the-happiness of others, and treating everyone in an unbiased way as the supreme (brahma) abodes (viharas) or ways of abiding in the world.
More than that, he laid down monastic rules for Buddhist monks and nuns in his order (Sangha) saying meat should never be eaten under four circumstances:
When one has seen
heard
or suspects that an animal had been killed for one;
or when it is a particular kind of animal [human, bear, tiger, etc.]
Why is this important given that none of these circumstances involves killing by the eater of the dead body?
It shows that even when not killing oneself, to induce, suggest, pay, or seem to promote the killing of animals should never be done. It is bad karma, a violation of monastic rules, and a complete contradiction to the entire spirit of nonharming (ahimsa).
If Buddhism is anything -- and if Christianity/Catholicism actually stand for anything -- it is the marriage of wisdom and compassion. Is it wise to kill? No. Is it compassionate to kill? Of course not.
But people make excuses, crave flesh, and rationalize themselves into terrible karma and terrible health and die with all the deaths they caused on their heads. Deeds (karma, actions) will bear their results (vipaka and phala). It doesn't seem to do it fast enough to stop anybody, but it is a regularity of the universe, an impersonal "law."
But isn't difficult to remove meat?
Whoever doesn't love cows doesn't know them.
SD: It's easy now. Avoiding deep friend junk food feels good. There are so many more vegan options when one branches out to eating a compassionate diet. It tastes better.
But there's every flavor. There are faux burgers for the textures and savoriness we're used to. It's all available 100% plant-based. Why would anybody kill or encourage others to kill -- at least for blooming Lent. C'mon, it's not like becoming a hermit in an ashram for life or in a Himalayan cave for death.
Thank you for letting me live and for this flower.
And John 5, the new guitarist for Motley Crue, is a vegan -- no drugs, drink, sugar, or death. He's on his way to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame for his licks. And why? Because as a vegan his mind is so clear and his hands so dexterous.
WQ: Wiki has a lot to say about Buddhist vegetarianism in Mahayana, the dominant school. That's next to look at more closely. It's enough that it's clear in Theravada, even though it's not a rule for laypersons.
Doggone is jealous of you, SD, that you are able to stick to it, and we're all proud and happy to see the positive changes and your improved health.
The flesh trade is so bad it's prohibited
Wisdom Quarterly translation, Vanijja Sutta ("Business Discourse")
The Buddha: "Meditators, a lay follower [of this Dharma] refrains from engaging in five types of business. What are those five?
"They are business [buying, selling, trading, commerce] in: 1) weapons, 2) living beings [such as human trafficking], 3) MEATS, 4) intoxicants, and 5) poisons. These are the five kinds of business a lay follower refrains from engaging in" (AN 5.177).
QUESTION: When I meditate, which has both the words "me" and "I," I feel so selfish and self-absorbed, like it's all about me. So shouldn't I stop? I would rather be an explorer [astronaut] than a selfish seeker [psychonaut]. You can't argue with my logic, admit it, and let me get off this mat.
We've just scratched the surface in this direction.
Space cadet gets bored with own distractions
ANSWER: Well, Doggone, with logic like that, you really have us in a bind. I mean, we don't want you to be selfish or self-absorbed. In fact, it would be good to be selfless and fully absorbed [in the object of meditation]. With killer logic like you've laid out, we realize that we are wrong, and by "we" we mean all of us -- the Buddha, the sages, the arhats, the sadhus and sadhvis (godmen and godwomen), the rishis (seers), the jinas (pathfinders), the shamans (wandering ascetics or shramanas). We've been doing this all wrong. So what you propose is that we launch our own Asian space program out in Afghanistan or Northwest India, maybe in Mohenjo-Daro or in any case somewhere near Gandhara?
Q: I don't know what those places are.
A: Of course not, yet you're sure of which direction to head, out not in?
Q: Well, no, but...
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift off
A: So without knowing even the general direction, you've let your mind talk you into doubt, skepticism, and more discursive thinking?
Q: Discursive?
A: Monkey Mind, going from branch to branch to branch, ceaselessly jumping around.
Q: Oh yeah, that.
A: Yet without knowing, you've never noticed how enlightened scientists are? Everyone who comes back from "space" is awake. Everyone who spends her time drinking coffee, reading data printouts, fashioning explanations is well behaved, serene, in control of their minds, inspiring, happy...
Q: No, they're none of that. They're the opposite!
A: Of course, what else would they be? Neither purifying their own minds nor encouraging others to purify theirs, they strengthen their rational powers and let everything else go to pot. They use the power of a streetlamp the way a drunk does, for support rather than illumination. They debate, they argue, they aggrandize their own theories while belittling others'. What a way to go about in search of wisdom.
Q: Yeah, well.
Calm down, Monkey. - Play with me, Homer!
A: Yeah well, what? They're harried, confused, leading others to confusion, cantankerous, amenable to nothing but argument and besting others in debates, to more and more data, rarely recognizing the biases that secretly guide their (mis-)interpretations of that "data." There is this world. Look around. Loot at it. Your lenses (all three eyes) are covered in dust, but you hope to accurately discern and make sense of what you're seeing. You have no conception of the assumptions you arrive with, like that of a "seer." That you take for granted and leave unquestioned. The suitability of the apparatus (the eye and its focus), that you leave unquestioned, with no access to assessing it.
Q: I'm starting to see.
A: Sit, turn inward, and the next time the mind misleads you to look the other direction, the direction you spent your whole life looking and trying to make sense of, note it and remain with the subject.
Q: What subject?
"Space" like dinosaurs is for kids.
A: Your subject of meditation, like the breath, or if that has been mastered (and it has not), the Elements, or the others laid out in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra. Trust that the Buddha and the arhats who confirmed his findings had something useful to say about the way to peace and enlightenment. It isn't by thinking, for if it were, all the thinkers would already be there and, by their thinking, would have talked others into seeing things their way. "Thinking" is not the way. We are really going from the ground up (rather than the top down, from experience to knowledge rather than thinking and theorizing to knowledge). It's already been done. Follow the Path.
Q: But how? It doesn't work no matter how I try!
A: Stop "trying." Start doing. Leave expectations and angst behind. The very problem you are running into is efforting, attempting to muscle it. Relax. LET GO. Let it be. You're only task is to watch. Don't think about it. See it. There it is. That is reality. Watch it unfold. What happens to a thought?
Q: It comes.
A: What else?
Q: It makes me think.
A: It makes you think? Isn't it a byproduct of your thinking?
Q: Well, yeah, but...
A: You said, "it comes." Have you ever noticed that "it goes"?
Q: Well, sure, after it hangs out a while.
Oh, this is easy. Now what? What else?
A: So don't welcome it. Simply see it. And you will see that although it comes whenever it wants to, it also goes whenever it wants to. You're not in control. When you're sitting, you're full of thoughts. But when you stand up to make sense of them, where are they? They are hardly dependable or useful. They've ruined your meditation (that is, welcoming them, conversing with them, and following them has ruined it) and then, their job done, they go away. You can't even account for them, find them now, or get back your peaceful meditation. You created this great argument against sitting and did no sitting still. The theory immediately fell apart when you ask about it, yet you cling to it as a "really good thought."
Q: I see now it wasn't.
A: And the next one won't be either. Billions have thought these thoughts, made these assumptions, thoughtlessly followed thought. Stop all that. Let it go. There's something better on the other side of confidence (the faith to believe this is not all for naught). In Zen some say, "Just be." Sort of be like that. Be content in the moment, be with the moment, just be (with it). Stop abandoning yourself. If you need inspiration for sitting, reading the lives of those who previously succeeded is inspiring, although those stories can set up expectations, hopes, and lead to frustration and a sense of futility if magic doesn't happen. Let magic happen, let it not happen, let it be.
Q: So like the Beatles.
Let's make more songs to distract everyone.
A: No, but okay. Like anything. It is. Let it be. Let it be just as it is. Don't fix it. Observe it. Your strength of observation will strengthen. Beyond sitting, there are practices the whole rest of the time to make the next sit more solid. Ever be mindful. Stay with the moment. Stop abandoning this moment and attention to it. Then, when sitting, that can be done much better. Exhale. Let the inhale happen all by itself. Just watch it. Don't "do" it.
Q: I might suffocate!
A: You won't if you relax. Most of "your" breathing is being done without you most of the time. When you notice it at the beginning of the sit, it should occur to you that "you" haven't been breathing yet breathing has been happening just fine, in fact, better than if you had.
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