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."