The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts

"To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves"---Dogen Zenji

"If it is unatainable, how can we attain it? But we should! That is Buddhism."--Suzuki Roshi, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Flower of the Week:

Viburnum Opulus, "Snowball Bush" or "Guelder Rose"

Buddhist Lesson of the Week:

The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts

The Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts are the rules that all Bodhisattvas are expected to follow. As practitioners of a Mahayana form of Buddhism, all of the sangha here at Green Gulch are considered to be Bodhisattvas, as we focus most of our energy on working on ourselves for the betterment of all living beings. They also serve as general rules for living in a sangha and serve the community in much the same way that the Ten Commandments do in Christianity. They are broken up into three sections: The Three Refuges, The Three Pure Precepts, and the Ten Grave Precepts. They are as follows:

The Three Refuges:

1. I take refuge in Buddha

(I promise to immerse myself in the Buddha way and live accordingly)

2. I take refuge in Dharma

(I promise to immerse myself in the Buddha's teachings, and live by what they teach)

3. I take refuge in Sangha

(I promise to immerse myself in living with others in a compassionate and mindful manner, and to work towards liberating all living beings from suffering)

**We chant the refuges three times in Pali (the oldest language of Buddhism from India) every morning after zazen

Our little bodhi tree in the glass house (Buddha
attained enlightenment under a bodhi tree)

The Three Pure Precepts:

1. I vow to refrain from evil

2. I vow to make every effort to live in enlightenment

3. I vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all living beings

The Ten Grave Precepts:

1. I vow not to kill (definitely not humans, but most of the time this means animals too.)

2. I vow not to take what is not given

3. I vow not to misuse sexuality (not to be chaste, but to just use sexuality with mindfulness and a a conscious and enlightened intent.)

4. I vow to refrain from false speech (even to our own selves)

5. I vow to refrain from intoxicants (you cannot live the Buddha way without a clear mind)

6. I vow not to slander

7. I vow not to praise self at the expense of others (I love this...it's alright to be proud, just in a mindful way)

8. I vow not to be possesive

9. I vow not to harbor ill will (having right mind is just as important as having right action)

10. I vow not to disparage the Three Treasures (aka the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.)

A beautiful fuchsia rose in the garden

Life at the Center:

Last week I found it useful to think about my time here differentiated into my experiences with the practice, with the work, and with the community. I think I'll probably do the same thing this week. It is amazing how much seems to happen here in a week, although not very much happens at all. Our whole days are structured around being aware and mindful, not only of ourselves and our own thoughts and growth, but also of those around us and our surroundings. This is conducive to a sort of elongated sense of time here as well as plenty of time for contemplation.

Practice

I feel inclined to start my discussion on practice by talking about last Sunday's Dharma talk, which impacted me in a rather real way. For those who don't know what a Dharma Talk is, it is sort of like a sermon that is delivered by a priest every Sunday. The priest who delivers the Dharma Talk rotates every week, and it is usually a priest from GGF, but sometimes it can be a priest from the greater SFZC sangha. The public is invited to watch the talk, and afterwards they stick around for some tea, some Q&A with the speaker, and then lunch with us.

The speaker for this most recent Dharma Talk was Reb Anderson, who has been with GGF since its founding as a temple in 1972. He was the Abbot here for a while, but is no longer. Those who used to be Abbots/Abbesses but are no longer are referred to as "Senior Dharma Teachers." Reb lives here still, and I see him around every once in a while in the dining hall. I have always been sort of intimidated by him, although he seems to be a very timid and modest man, because he has a very strong presence. Although we're not supposed to speculate about who is enlightened around here, (and I'm not sure exactly what that means for me anyways,) I'm going to go on ahead and say Reb is enlightened. He has that soft aura of excellence. 

Reb's talk was about living with stillness, which he never really defined, but I interpreted as living with a sort of all-abiding and unbound compassion, perceptibility, and awareness. Essentially, what one lives with when one is enlightened. All Buddhists practice this, in some sense, although I had never really thought of it in such terms until the talk. Living with stillness is easier, it seems, with consistent zazen. That makes sense, because all that zazen is is a concentrated period of being as still as possible, in both body and mind.

Lovely pink roses from the garden. I love pink flowers :)

At the Q&A there was a woman (who ended up dominating the conversation, which I thought provided a wonderful opportunity for all in attendance to practice what Reb was preaching,) who was asking Reb how she should handle people who were Dharma practitioners, yet were often unkind to her. He provided an entirely insightful and inspiring answer, which was to just practice stillness with them, or to simply be with them as they are. That's it. No judgements, no expectations, no reactions; just allowing yourself to be with someone else as they are moment to moment. 

I thought this was a wonderful thing to practice and think about, and I have been doing so for most of this week. So much strife in the world would be avoided if people stopped being solely reactionary to each other. Of course it's harder to practice when encountering someone who just seems to be unfoundedly unkind, such as people who are adamant racists, sexists, homophobes, anti-Muslim, etc., especially if said person seems to be attacking you or people you care about. But, of course, encounters with such people are when it is most important for you to be still. Be a mirror. Allow the other person to see themselves in the reflection of your still passivity. Such people are often just hurting, in deep and profound ways. As someone who has the benefit on not being wounded in such a way, you have the advantage to be kind and compassionate. Even if it seems logically, and maybe even justly, wrong for you to not speak up. If you must speak up, do it with a still mind...reaction begets reaction, but stillness might inspire stillness.

On another note, I have had moments of real struggle with the whole religious part of the practice this past week. It first occurred during one morning zazen when suddenly I realized where I was and what I was doing. It startled me to be viscerally aware of the fact that I was in a room surrounded by about 60 people all dressed nearly the same just sitting together silently in the dark. It felt, for lack of a better or more concise word, cult-ish. I had to fight the urge to walk out of the room and gather myself.

A beautiful neon rose growing in front of the cob shed

This feeling was heightened the next morning when we had a special service to honor the full moon after morning zazen. Usually I actually quite enjoy service, but this "new moon" service had an especially religious feel to the whole thing. We did even more bowing and chanting, and a lot of the chanting was done in a call-and-response style. At one point we were all chanting the Bodhisattva vows, and I was mildly repulsed by myself and instantly uncomfortable. To me, a vow means something; it is something that should be done seriously and with great intent. I was struggling with being told to avow something and expected to blindly do so in that moment. Oftentimes, when such things happen here, I can find some way to bend the Buddhist words to more fit my Atheist interpretation of the world, but that morning I could not do it. Did I actually believe in any of the Bodhisattva vows, really? Can I stand here and hypocritically vow to something just because it is polite and expected of me to do so? 

A Buddha statue sitting under a rose bush on the farm

I know that somehow I will be able to move past this, and to be able to practice, serve, chant, and work with meaningful intent. I have a meeting with the Tanto (head of practice) later today, so that I can talk to her about these qualms of mine. I'm sure that she can give me something to work on to make me feel better about it all.

We had our first day of zazen on the normal schedule (not interim) today, which means two periods of zazen in the morning, starting at 5:00 am. I have experience with this already, but I haven't done it for years; however, I think that I like the two periods better. Already today I noticed how much more productive the second sit was.

I realized recently that I look at religion in much the same way that I look at art. I love impressionist art. One time I looked at a Van Gogh painting at an exhibit in Boston and was so unnervingly struck by the painting that all I could do was stand there in front of it and look at it for five minutes. I have never met Van Gogh nor been to the ravine that he had painted, yet I was ineffably and tangibly drawn to and connected to that painting. It was, simply, beautiful, completely. When I learn about religion, or listen to a sermon, or live in a Buddhist community, I feel the same way (most of the time.) I love religion despite my own ethical aversion to it because, inexplicably, it is beautiful to me. It is deeply, profoundly, enigmatically beautiful. 

The Ravine by Vincent Van Gogh
www.wallart-direct.co.uk

Work

Some freshly planted zinnias in the tube house on left, spearmint
and peppermint growing on the right

Work has been wonderful. I am really enjoying working in the garden. I love going to the garden everyday and seeing the flowers. Every day I am struck by their beauty. We have had some rainy mornings here this week, and when it rains the flowers are especially vibrant. I think this is because they're happy having water, but I also wonder if maybe the water on the petals acts sort of like a prism and refracts the light not being absorbed by the petals in a way that makes it appear brighter. I'm not sure how I can research this question quite yet. A quick Google search was unfruitful.

I love harvesting the herbs, especially the rosemary, because then my fingers smell lovely for a while afterwards. Without fail, every time we harvest herbs the Simon & Garfunkel song "Scarborough Fair" runs through my head (because we do in fact harvest sage, rosemary, and thyme...but no parsley.) I also actually love the (mild) manual labor we do as well (which mostly entails shoveling, edging, tilthing, and hoeing.) 

Baby plant starts in our glass house

On Tuesday we did compost. We do all of our compost in the garden by hand, which I guess is unusual. The farm uses tractors. We learned that the recipe for a good compost pile follows the acronym F.G.M.S. (which we remember with Farm Girls Must Sing.) In actuality the acronym stands for Food, Greens, Manure, and Straw. We made a big bed of straw and then piled food compost from our kitchen here at GGF, weeds from our garden, and manure from the horse stalls down the road on top. We did three layers and then wrapped it all up in a tarp and caged it up (to keep animals away.) I think we turn it every two weeks (but it might be every week? I guess I'll see.) We turn it three times and then it's ready to use on our garden beds once more!

On Thursday to honor Earth Day Qayuum (who is the Farm Manager) screened an absolutely lovely film titled "The Symphony of Soil," which was a beautiful and thorough examination of soil. Soil is wonderful, let me just tell you. The conclusion of the movie was essentially how organic farming has the potential to dramatically improve our world in just so many ways, so it was also very inspiring. I highly suggest watching it if you're a person who's inclined towards documentaries.

There is a wave of sickness sweeping through the community right now, and on Wednesday that wave knocked right on into me head on and dragged me through the surf a bit. But luckily I live and work in a community that highly encourages staying in bed and resting when sick (it's as much a practical thing as a compassionate thing,) so I just stayed put on Wednesday. No zazen and no work...which unfortunately for me meant no flower arranging for this week. However, people threw a myriad of herbal remedies in my direction, and I slept for (no over-exaggeration) 20 hours practically straight through, so I got better real quick. Also fortunately for me, I have lovely yurtmates who helped to take care of me. Juniper brought me my breakfast and lunch, which was very good, because the trek to the dining hall from the yurt would have been not so good for me (not to mention the likelihood of me contaminating others there if I did go.)

Community

I want to talk about the wild turkeys that roam the farm. As far as I can tell, there's only one pair who saunter around...but there could be many more. At times it seems like there could be a lot. At any rate, there is definitely a pair that live over by the yurts, and it is not uncommon for the male to perch on the roof of the guys' yurt or the porch of our yurt. One morning this week the male turkey found his way onto the roof of the zendo just in time for morning zazen and gently serenaded us with his guttural turkey call throughout our sit. He was also so moved by our service that in the middle of our chanting he began pecking at the roof in a very fervent manor. Oftentimes, if one calls to a turkey (using turkey sounds), the turkey will return the call. I have been slowly perfecting my turkey call so that I may have better relations with my neighbors, and have recently inspired others to do the same.

Siberian Irises

All of the residents here are expected to perform jobs for zendo operations throughout the week. All of the new apprentices only have one job right now, but eventually we'll be expected to be familiar with all of them and be able to perform all of them when need be. The boys are learning the job of shoten, who open and close the zendo doors during all of the various stages of entrance at the beginning of zazen as well as ring the bansho bell (this huge bell that hangs outside of the zendo) during the first half of the first period of morning zazen. The girls (which includes myself) are chidens, and we essentially maintain the altars. This primarily involves cleaning and maintaining the incense bowls that are used every day, but also means general tidying and restocking. It's the sort of fastidious and detailed work I quite enjoy.

The central space inside Cloud Hall. It used to be
a horse barn.

On Friday morning Qayuum brought all of the farm and garden apprentices on a hike in Muir Woods with Wendy Johnson, who is an absolutely DELIGHTFUL lady. She actually founded the farm and garden apprenticeship program here many years ago. She is another person who has a soft and strong aura of enlightenment, and she was so completely and obviously wise. I don't know if I've even been so evidently struck by someone in such a short time of their wisdom. She was not only very knowledgeable about the history of Green Gulch, Muir Woods, Marin County, and the United States, but had a quiet knowledge about her surroundings as well. She was very reverential, and as such she was the perfect guide for our walk through Muir Woods. I had never been in a redwood forest before, and as soon as I stepped into the gate, my jaw literally dropped a bit. The trees are huge and wonderful; they're ancient and strong and so very present. I was in wild wonder throughout the walk, which was only heightened by Wendy's apt ability to stop us at opportune moments so that we may quietly absorb our surroundings in an aware and solemn way. The entire walk we were silent as a group; Wendy encouraged us to not only appreciate the obvious splendor of the venerable trees, but also the ferns (who are indicators of the the tree health,) and the water in the river that runs through the woods and is the only unprotected salmon run left. 

To be honest, the whole experience unnerved me a bit (but not negatively.) My mind was just so awake....which I realize might sound a bit contrived, but I don't intend it to be so. I felt raw and open, as though the world was pouring through a crevice in my mind space. Although it was indescribably lovely, the visceral sensation of the experience left me feeling scored. 

The sensation quickly abided, however, with some playful inanity in the garden planting zinnias with Juniper.

A reminder in the sowing shed on the farm

Book of the Week:

I am still working my way through Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I have not had a lot of time to read this past week. I thought that I would maybe just share some of my favorite quotes from the book so far:

"Nothing comes from outside your mind. Usually we think of our mind as receiving impressions and experiences from outside, but that is not a true understanding of our mind. The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind."

"According to Dogen, one continuous mistake can also be Zen."

"The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact."

"You must be true to your own way until at last your actually come to the point where you see it is necessary to forget all about yourself."

"When my teacher was seventy, he said, 'When I was young I was like a tiger, but now I am like a cat!' He was very pleased to be like a cat."

"The result is not the point; it is the effort to improve ourselves that is valuable."

"You are living in this world as one individual, but before you take the form of a human being, you are already there, always there. We are always here."

"You may think that when you die, you disappear, you no longer exist. But even though you vanish, something which is existent cannot be non-existent. That is the magic. We ourselves cannot put any magic spells on this world. The world is its own magic."

"When we hear the sound of the pine trees on a windy day, perhaps the wind is just blowing, and the pine tree is just standing in the wind. That is all that they are doing. But the people who listen to the wind in the tree will write a poem, or will feel something unusual. That is, I think, the way everything is."

"We are just expressing the smallest particle of the big activity, that is all."

"You should eat what is there, you know. Sometimes you do not eat it. Even though you are eating, your mind is somewhere else. You do not taste what you have in your mouth. As long as you can eat when you are eating, you are all right. Do not worry a bit. It means you are yourself."

Song of the Week:

"The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon & Garfunkel (I know another S&G song but this one holds merit of its own)

"I get the news I need on the weather report.

I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.

Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile."

The Three Jewels

"When you find the place where you are, practice occurs"--Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo

Flower of the Week:

Dianthus sp. or "Sweet William"

Buddhist Lesson of the Week:

The Three Jewels

The bark on a Tibetan Cherry tree
in the Peace Garden

The Three Jewels are the Holy Trinity of Buddhism, if you will. They are the entirety of the basis of the religion. There are no concepts in Buddhism that are not attached to at least one, if not all three, of these ideas, and they are the foundation for all practice here at Green Gulch. They are:

1. Buddha 

Buddha means great teacher. The Buddha, as in the great enlightened one who provided the philosophy and concepts for the religion, is by no means the only Buddha. Different Buddhist factions have different ideas on who a Buddha is, but in Zen I have heard many times that a Buddha is anyone who lives with Buddha-nature, or someone who is compassionate, mindful, forgiving, wise, etc. As far as actual practice goes, it can also mean a teacher for you to study with and have discussions with as you navigate your practice.

2. Dharma

The Dharma is the teachings of the Buddha. It is all of Buddhism's philosophies, dogmas, sutras, and lessons. One of the Boddhisattva vows is "Dharma gates are endless, I vow to enter them." This essentially means that there are many ways to discover the truth within the framework of Buddhism. There are endless opportunities to grow and learn, and those who are true with their practice will embrace all of those learning opportunities, even if they are unusual, unexpected, or even at times unwelcome. When you study Buddhism, you study the Dharma.

3. Sangha

The Sangha is the community in which you practice. Contemporarily it often refers to the groups of people who study the Dharma together. For example, Green Gulch is a Sangha, but so is the San Francisco Zen Center, as is Zen Buddhism in general, and Buddhism as a whole. Many Buddhists believe the whole world, and all of its population, to be a Sangha of sorts. Living and working in a community is such an important element of Buddhism because it is hard to actually practice if you do not have others to practice with. Living, working, and studying with others provides many more opportunities to practice compassion, patience, and awareness than if you were to only study by yourself. Sanghas also provide the opportunity to interact with teachers and people who can help guide you in your navigation of the Dharma.

My First Few Weeks:

Some broccoli and chard on the farm

It is hard for me to think about where to start. This past week and a half has felt like a month. It is hard for me to realize that I have not really shared very much of what has been happening here during this time before this point. The days here are wonderfully long and full, and it has been widely noted amongst us new residents that one day here often feels like it lasts two days in its fullness. 

I think that perhaps the easiest way for me to start to talk about the beginning of my journey here is to break it up in nice, little, organized pieces. I have been told many times, especially during my application process to obtain this apprenticeship, that there are three main elements to living at Green Gulch, and it is imperative to partake in those three elements during our time here. I think I will talk about each part separately.

Practice

Practice is perhaps the most central of the three elements of living here, for obvious reasons; this is, after all, first and foremost, a religious center. The new apprentices moved to Green Gulch at the beginning of an interim period schedule, which is a more relaxed schedule than normal. This really only means that instead of two 40-minute periods of zazen in the morning, we only have one. That means that we have only had to start our days at 5:50 am instead of the more typical 5:00 am. We have two full weeks of this schedule before we jump deeper into the zazen. 

There is an emphasis at Green Gulch on "work practice," which means living and working with a zen mind outside of zazen in the zendo. This is largely due to practical reasons, being we live and work on a relatively large and busy working farm and garden. The residents here need to be able to work while still placing their emphasis on their religious study. This means that when we work, we work and only focus on that. So when we pull weeds, we are encouraged to put all of our attention on pulling that weed. Or when we cut flowers, we focus only on the flower bush we are cutting. This of course is hard to do consistently through out the whole day, but that is why it is something that we practice.

Covered beds in the "kitchen garden," actually part of the farm

My sitting right now is largely unstructured (within my mind.) I don't try to push or pull my mind in any direction while I sit (which you're not supposed to do anyways when you sit zazen,) but I also haven't really been making a concentrated effort on watching my thoughts as they transpire at will. At times I worry about this, but I feel that it is okay; a lot of times in Zen it is important only to make the effort to make time for sitting, and through consistent sitting, a calm mind just kind of follows.

We are highly encouraged to engage in "practice discussions" (or "dokusans") while we're here, which are chats with members of the senior staff here at the center. We can talk to the abbess or the senior Dharma teacher, but they are hard to schedule time with because they are very busy. Most people seem to just find someone they like a lot who has lived here a long time and practiced for a long time. We are told that we can talk to them about anything during that time, because anything is relevant to our practice, including such seemingly frivolous things as crushes or disputes with your roommate. I am still figuring out who I would like to talk to...and really what it is I would talk to them about. I am sure things will come up. Perhaps they already have, and I just need to notice them in some coherent way.

Some lovely irises in the garden. The irises are fairly abundant right now.

After zazen in the mornings and in the evenings we do a service, which consists of bowing and chanting. It is definitely the part of our schedule that most new people find to be the most uncomfortable, only because it is by far the most religious part of our day. I feel like people are surprised by the religiosity of it because they think of zen as not all that religious, and as more of a philosophy. It is definitely a philosophy, and can be used that way (which is what I do), but that philosophy is based on a religion, and this is a center entirely devoted to that religion. As with everything in zen, I can take the whole religious aspect of our chants and interpret them however I like, which once I actually found something that worked for me, works very well. I might talk more later about what all that actually entails.

The chanting is also a neat way to encourage social cohesion of our sangha...just like singing together in church, chanting together in the zendo enables us to feel more cohesive as a group.

The "Peace Garden"

Work

I don't know the names of the flowers in the
foreground, but those are baby
sunflowers in the background

I work as a garden apprentice. There is only one other garden apprentice besides myself. Other people working in the garden right now include three apprentices from the garden season last year who either stayed at Green Gulch during the winter or are now returning to help for a little bit. We also have a garden manager. There are only ladies working in the garden, which can be interpreted however you like. 

There are also many people who work on the farm, which is larger and right next door to the garden. There are 8 farm apprentices, I believe (most of which are men,) 4 returning farm apprentices from last year, and 3 farm managerial-type people. The farm and garden apprentices are often lumped together in activities around Green Gulch (the apprenticeship is technically the "farm/garden apprenticeship"), and we are all either friends already or working our way slowly to friendship :)

We work 5 days of the week (the typical Monday-Friday workweek) and have Saturday and Sunday off. However, our days off are hardly ever "off," or completely free. We are required to do morning zazen one of our two days off, and once we start going to Farmer's Markets we're going to be doing that on Saturdays.

Bed with baby zinnias

My work right now consists mainly of edging, weeding, and planting beds. We have two ceremonial gardens within the garden called the "Peace Garden" and the "Herb Circle." Today in the Herb Circle there is a large party (for a group separate from the center,) and so we had to spend most of our work time this week weeding the beds, mowing the lawns, and trimming the hedges in the Herb Circle to get it ready for today's events. There were a couple days where all we did was weed all day long, which was good for practice (in that it enabled us all to work on our patience.)

All people who work at Green Gulch are expected to work with "noble speech" which means that we only talk when it is necessary for the work we are doing. For example, I can check with my manager which plants I'm taking out in a bed or keeping, or I can ask for someone to hand me a spade, or some such thing, but no idle chit chat. We are not even really supposed to be talking about what we're doing in a general sense (i.e. asking questions about the flowers we're planting.) If we have questions of that sort while we're working we're expected to either research it in our free time or ask someone at another time.

I don't know a lot about plants, and I'm quickly realizing just how much I don't know about flowers at all. As those who know me well might know, I find it uncomfortable to be ignorant about pretty much anything, and so accepting my current ignorance about garden flowers is something I'm working with. I'm looking forward to learning more about them as my time goes on here, and to become proficient in something completely new to me.

On Wednesdays the garden is in charge of making flower arrangements for all of the altars at Green Gulch (of which there are many,) as well as for some of the offices, and the tables in the dining hall. Claudia, the garden manager, knew how much interest I had in the flower arranging, and thus gave me the first rotation in learning the ropes. I get to arrange flowers for the next two weeks as well, and then Juniper (the other garden apprentice) gets to do it for the three weeks after that. I absolutely loved the flower arranging. It was interesting to learn the process of choosing and clipping the flowers we use for the arrangements...of course it was more interesting to get to work on the arrangements themselves. I found it so wonderfully nourishing to be able to work on a creative project all day, and one that is important to the center and is genuinely enjoyed by everybody around here.

The "cob shed," or main garden building

Community

Of course, since Green Gulch is a relatively confined Sangha, participating in community life is important. This means a number of things--it could mean showing the proper respect (we bow an obscene amount here, around 70-100 times a day); it could mean being punctual (also very important here); it could mean just forming new friendships and new relationships with the practice leaders. 

Before starting our apprenticeship on the 6th, all applicants for the apprenticeship program had to come here together for a sort of trial-period in February. Many of us from that period returned for the actual apprenticeship, and it was really nice to have our time together in February as a foundation for our friendships with each other now. That time in February also gave us the opportunity to be introduced to the community, and many of those connections are now growing stronger.

Our lovely yurt

I am living in a yurt that is about a 5 minute walk from the main campus buildings with 2 of the apprenticeship ladies, Juniper (the other garden apprentice,) and Isabelle (a farm apprentice). There is another yurt just above ours in which two of the male farm apprentices live. At first I had mixed feelings about the yurts (mainly just because Cloud Hall, the main dorm, is attached to the zendo, and you can practically just roll out of your bed in the morning on to your zazen cushion.) I am actually quite happy to have our own little haven away from the main hubbub of Green Gulch where we can wear tank tops without being reproached. It is also actually nice to get up kind of early before zazen and go and do yoga/stretch in Still Water Hall (a yoga room, essentially,) to get all nice and limber before sitting. Also the nights/mornings in the yurt are kind of cold as balls, so the allure of getting up and out to Still Water (where it is pleasantly balmy at all times) is a very good way to get going in the morning and make sure I get to zazen on time.

We also don't have any bathrooms out at the yurts (but we do have a faucet with potable water.) So that means we usually just have to plan on going to the bathroom around going to the yurt...but sometimes that doesn't work. At night we've developed a system that involves a bucket for our mid-slumber urination callings, which so far has worked out just fine. There is a compost toilet attached to the yurt, but it doesn't work, and I guess it would be a real big pain to get it working again.

I really enjoy spending time to get to know the various people who live here. We are all very similar people, as might be expected. It's a certain kind of person who's attracted to this place and this life. It's almost amazing just how intelligent everyone is, and how everybody is knowledgeable about something unique. 

Some mist burning off the top of a hedge in the garden in the
morning

There are little activities all the time here for some community bonding/learning, especially for us apprentices. We have gone on nature walks where we learned all about the native plants around us (as well as many of their medicinal properties,) and walks to learn about our water systems (Green Gulch isn't attached to a municipal water system and gets all of its water for living spaces and the farm from 2 creeks, 3 reservoirs, and a well.) There was a movie night where we watched a delightful anime film called Paprika (form which Inception probably stole most of its ideas). Last night we played Avalon, which is a game that my friends and I would play all the time in Boulder, and I was very excited to play it here. It is also almost always possible to find a buddy to go on a hike with or go on a walk to the beach with at any given time.

Book of this Week:

I am re-reading the SFZC staple Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by our founder Suzuki Roshi. It is entirely DELIGHTFUL and a great way to find inspiration for practice when I'm starting to feel tired. If there is anyone reading this blog who has not read Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and you have an interest in learning some basic Zen philosophies, then you should definitely read this book. It is easy to read and is actually quite funny in parts and you will find Suzuki entirely endearing, I promise.

Song(s) of this Week:

I have been rediscovering a band that was an old favorite of mine in high school, called Blind Pilot. In general I think that their first album is better, as I find it to be more poetic and insightful, but their second album can be fun as well. A good song from their first album is "Oviedo" and a good song from their second album is "Half Moon."

Oviedo:

Half Moon:

 The Orchard:

An Introduction to Green Gulch Farm and Zen Buddhism

Hello everybody!

This blog is going to be about my time at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Muir Beach, California. I am going to be living and working here for the next 6 months as an apprentice in the garden.

A (partial) view of GGF and Muir Beach

I have been wanting to do this apprenticeship for the past five years, and it is exciting that this dream of mine is finally coming to fruition! 

This is my fourth stay at Green Gulch Farm (GGF). The first time I was here I came for my senior project for CRMS (my high school) in 2011. I stayed for two weeks as a guest student then, and during that time I was properly introduced to Zen Buddhism, zazen (Zen meditation), and the lifestyle here at Green Gulch.

I returned a year later with my father, and we only stayed for a short time (a week for me, four days for him). However, my dad's short stay here spurned a deep and passionate practice of Zen for him that continues to this day.

The last time I was here was in February of this year for a two week trial-run/application-period for the apprenticeship I am a part of now. During that time many of us applicants formed friendships which have (so far) endured into our first week as apprentices.

A quick explanation for the title of my blog: I am in fact Atheist, and religiously, I am not a Buddhist. However, I believe that, especially in regards to Zen, Buddhism is a tradition full of lessons that can be applied to any and all aspects of life. It essentially teaches how to live more compassionately and with more awareness, which is something I believe the world needs more of. Furthermore, I have some training in how to be a religious scholar (I was a religious studies minor in college,) and find religion to just be inherently fascinating. So, in many ways, I believe it to be accurate to call myself an Atheist Buddhist (and, technically, Zen Buddhism is an atheist religion anyways, as it has no gods.) I plan to explore this whole philosophy with great intent during my time here.

Muir Beach (both the beach and the town)

I thought that for a first post it would be appropriate to give a brief history in both Zen and Green Gulch Farm itself, in order to give context for the rest of the posts to follow. If you came to this blog solely to read about my adventures here, feel free to skip the rest of this post (although be forewarned, a little background knowledge might be a good thing for future reads.)

A Brief History of Zen Buddhism: 

This historical account is based only on my knowledge and understanding of it at this time. I am sure that this will be fleshed out (and even might change in places) upon more time studying here. I am also glossing over some parts right now. Let me know if you have interest in any part that I don't discuss all that fully.

As I'm sure many people know, Buddhism was founded in India by the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) sometime around the 6th century B.C. From India it spread to China, and from there it spread to Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. 

Shakyamuni Buddha
(pic: mrdowling.com)

There are two main schools of thought within Buddhism that all of the other schools and branches of thought fall into. The first one, Theravada, is more traditional, and the focus of those who practice a Theravada form of Buddhism is to obtain personal enlightenment (essentially).

Enlightenment in Buddhism, for those who do not know, means escaping samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth (reincarnation.) To escape means obtaining enlightenment and entering nirvana.

The second predominant school of thought in Buddhism is the Mahayana tradition. The focus of those who practice a Mahayana form of Buddhism is to help others obtain enlightenment. Those who assist others to enlightenment are called Bodhisattvas. It is believed, in this school, that assisting others to enlightenment (and thus practicing pure compassion,) oftentimes results in personal enlightenment (although not necessarily). Zen is in the Mahayana tradition, and thus all who practice Zen seek to be Bodhisattvas.

Dogen founded the Zen school of Buddhist thought in Japan in the 13th century A.D. after studying Chan Buddhism in China. Chan is essentially the result of Taoist influence on Buddhism when it was introduced into China. It was different than most other schools of Buddhist thought at the time in its simplicity of tradition and philosophies, both of which appealed to Dogen as a student. In Japan he furthered these ideas into what we know to be Zen (although, really, Chan and Zen are the same thing). 

Eihei Dogen
(pic: existentialbuddhist.com)

The focus of Zen Buddhism is zazen, or the Zen form of meditation. In zazen, there are no mantras or tricks for calming your mind into quietude. Instead, those who practice zazen are encouraged to simply just sit, in the most basic and pure way to do so. To sit zazen is to only be sitting, and doing nothing else. Through simply sitting, students of zen become separated from their sense of self and in so doing they release their egos (and thus their thoughts,) to realize they are just one part of everything. Of course such realizations and quietude comes with enormous amounts of practice.

Zazen is often referred to as simply "sitting," and not "meditating"…because this is closer to the truth of what we are doing.

To be a Zen Buddhist is to practice, because being a Zen Buddhist means living in a state of vigilant, unpretentious, and constant awareness (it is generally incorrect to associate the term "zen" with being "relaxed", as is often done colloquially, and more correct to associate it with being "aware"). Sitting for at least 40 minutes a day (the recommended time for a period of zazen) is crucial to this practice of everyday awareness. For reasons that only hundreds of years of tradition understands, sitting is a natural conduit to being both more aware and at ease with your world outside of the zendo (Zen meditation hall).

Today, there are two main schools of Zen thought--Soto Zen and Rinzai Zen. The San Francisco Zen Center, of which GGF is a part, follows the Soto tradition, which is more hands off than Rinzai, and operates under the assumption/knowledge/belief that everybody who sits is already enlightened as soon as they first put their bottom upon a meditation cushion (zafu). In other words, enlightenment is almost never brought up in teachings, and around GGF in particular it is almost never discussed (especially as it would relate to someone practicing at the center).

History of Green Gulch Farm:

Suzuki Roshi moved from Japan to found the San Francisco Zen Center in 1962. This, of course, was a time when hippies, existential thought, transcendental thought, and an awakened appreciation of Eastern traditions was sweeping the Bay Area. Thus, Suzuki had a large following of predominantly white zen hippies from pretty much the beginning. The headquarters of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) is today referred to as City Center, and is located in downtown San Francisco.

Shunrryu Suzuki
(pic: sfzc.org)

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is the oldest Soto Zen temple in the U.S. It was founded by Suzuki and then incorporated into SFZC in 1967. It is located literally in the middle of nowhere in the Ventana Wilderness, and is very much a place of practice retreat. There is more of an emphasis there on zazen and practice through study than there is at GGF, which has more of an emphasis on work practice.

Green Gulch Farm was bought from George Wheelwright in 1972, with the intention of it becoming a communal living space for laymen to practice together. Most of the original farm buildings are still on GGF's campus. For instance, Cloud Hall (the main dormitory) and our zendo (which is attached to Cloud Hall) used to be a horse and hay barn, respectively. The farm itself is six acres; the first acre is know as the "garden", and is used for growing ornamental flowers, medicinal flowers, and herbs. It also has a small orchard for heirloom apples and pears, as well as some ceremonial gardens. The back five acres are known as the "farm" and they grow primarily vegetables to be eaten at all three SFZC branches, as well as sold to local restaurants, at local farmer's markets, and in a few CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Both the farm and garden have their own distinct crews, with their own respective managers, workers, and apprentices.

The residential population of GGF is usually between 50-100 people. During the summers, this population looks roughly like 20-30 apprentices, 10-15 working residents, 4-6 guest students, and 30-40 senior staff and priests. There are also often many guests staying at the center who partake in various retreats and workshops (or who come for their own vacations or personal retreats).

There are six apprenticeships available. The farm and garden apprenticeships are only available right now, from April to October, and run those full six months. The other apprenticeships are available year round and usually last for three months at a time (although they can also go as long as six months). The other four apprenticeships besides farm and garden are: kitchen, guest program, grounds, and maintenance. For every three months as an apprentice, we earn a practice period (dependent upon our behavior during our apprenticeship) at any SFZC branch.

AT GGF, practice periods occur during October-April (the off-season for the farm). They last for two months at a time, and are essentially a more zazen intensive schedule than what we are doing now. I will probably go more into these later.

Daily Schedule:

The yurts (I'm living in the lower one!)
and the greenhouses on the farm

There is a daily schedule here that pretty much every resident at GGF follows (for roughly 5 days of the week):

5:00 am: First morning zazen

5:40: Kinhin (walking meditation)

5:50: Second morning zazen

6:30: Morning service (I'll go more into what this entails later)

7:00: Soji (Temple cleaning…essentially daily chores and tidying)

7:20: Breakfast!

8:30: Work meeting

9:00: Begin work (for me, on the garden)

10:15-10:35: Morning break

12:15: Lunch!

1:15: Back to work

4:15: Work ends

5:15: Evening zazen (only 35 mins instead of 40 mins)

5:50: Evening service

6:00: Dinner

7:30: Class/Dharma Talk (depending on the day)

9:00 pm: Lights out

A big idea around here is freedom in structure…essentially, that the rigid structuring of our days takes our minds off of the future and enables them to more fully explore what is happening in our present.

I hope that future posts will be more candid and personal, and will not be so much like a report. However, I don't want to assume that everybody reading this has as much of a foundational knowledge in Buddhism, Zen, and the farm as I am privileged to have. I hope that this post helped educate those of you who did not know any of this before :)

With that said, if I ever write about something that to me is common knowledge, but may not be for some of you reading, please let me know. I would love to answer questions! I am sure that as I get more caught up in the lifestyle here, this might happen more and more, especially with terminology. 

I also plan on talking about what I'm learning vis-a-vis Buddhism and gardening while I'm here in my  blogs (as well as maybe just going over the basics of Buddhism again.) This is for my own benefit as much as anything, but I hope those of you reading this enjoy learning what I'm learning as I go!

I am very excited for my next six months and to share it with all and everyone who has any interest on taking this journey with me :)

Catherine

A doodle found in the phone room (not mine, but I thought it was wonderful)