Dharma Rain Character

Still Point

Newsletter of Dharma Rain Zen Center

Portland, Oregon

Volume XXX Number 1

January-February 2005

 



by Domyo Sater

If you practice Zen, you have a relationship to what is often referred to as "the forms" or sometimes just "form." The forms are the rules, procedures, conduct, traditions and paraphernalia we encounter in our particular religious practice. Even if you are ambivalent toward form and engage in it simply because it is part of the package and generally try to avoid thinking about it too much, you still have a relationship with it.

For most of us, our relationship to form changes over time and occasionally makes big evolutionary leaps. In my case, I converted to Zen from religious non-conformism and spent many years devouring the details of the forms in an effort to perfect them. Then, even though I had become a monk, I began to think the forms were stupid, pointless, and a big cramp in my style. Rather ironically, then, I was put in the position of shuso, someone who helps maintain the container of form for the whole sangha. I knew that whenever I approached someone to correct or instruct them about a form, they could see me as a glowing bodhisattva, a bigoted tyrant, a nit-picky irritant, or simply as a fixture of their practice environment, like the hot water pot or the bell calling them to zazen. To face these possibilities calmly, I have not relied on confidence in myself. Rather, I have relied on a growing confidence in the wisdom of these forms.

I want to roughly describe a series of different relationships to form, based on my own experience and my observations of others. I don't mean to suggest this is an exhaustive list, or that the different relationships always unfold in this order. However, I hope these descriptions might be useful for understanding and accepting the viewpoints of others, and for reminding us that our own viewpoints are subject to change. Whatever category or categories you might fall into, engage that relationship wholeheartedly: explore it, question it, feel it, accept it, and do not compare it to others. The most important thing I have learned is that the form works its own magic on us, below the level of our conscious minds.

First, new practitioners of Zen often engage the form as if The Form Is the Key. At some level we hope that if only we can bow in all the right places at all the right times (gracefully and reverently, but also without any ego involved), if we can finally fold our oryoki cloth in a perfect rectangle, if we can finally zing the teacher with our understanding in sanzen with just the right mix of deference and attitude, the reward of Zen will be ours! This big, complicated, puzzling, frustrating spiritual practice will yield to our efforts (we hope). Sometimes we see the teachers or fellow practitioners that inspire us performing some simple action like putting their shoes straight and our heart almost breaks. We had no idea there could be so much subtlety to placing one's shoes, or that we could be so very far from embodying our own ideals.

Later, such practitioners have either given up Zen because they felt they could never master all those forms, or they have come close to mastering them and realized they still don't have It. Eventually, no matter how difficult you find it to learn forms, you can move through a Zen environment performing complicated and graceful maneuvers (that look really good to newcomers) and still feel dead inside. You can practice diligently long enough to earn a fancy name or vestment, yet still feel like these are pasted on over your anguish.

Then we arrive at a rather tense relationship with form: I'll Do It Only Because You Make Me. Many people start here, and never go through a honeymoon with form. Here we can feel a bit like our deepest longing is being held hostage. Some aspects of Zen have changed our lives or touched us so deeply that we know we must keep coming back. But then our teachers and seniors insist that we engage in certain activities, and surround ourselves with various paraphernalia, that may be meaningless to us at best and repulsive to us at worst. We are constantly on our guard against being bamboozled into something that compromises our integrity, independence, values or self-image. It can be extremely difficult for some of us to participate, for example, in a ceremony if we suspect it is getting everyone all worked up emotionally to the point that they are losing their better judgment. Some people absolutely cannot practice where the kyosaku ("encouragement" stick) is used to strike people during meditation, even when it is totally voluntary, because of the suggestion of violence, punishment or intolerance. Others are repulsed by the system of ordinations, wagessas, rakusus, and kesas, seeing it as being ripe for abuse by egotistical competitive types.

This can be a very difficult relationship to have with form, and many people stop practicing Zen because of it. Some of us strive to find ways to practice only those parts of Zen that seem pure, or fundamental, or at least acceptable to ourselves. We dream about how wonderful practice must be at centers where no one gets ordained, or we only feel comfortable meditating if there is a beautiful rock on the altar instead of one of those troubling, baggage-laden (usually male) Buddha images. Or we participate at a traditional center, but duck out right before the irritating or aversive form is about to start.

If we decide to stick it out, though, we may arrive at yet another relationship with form, perhaps best called, Whatever. This is the "whatever" that is said with a small shrug. It is not tuning everything out, nor is it a bleak indifference. It is more good-natured than that. We can say this about the forms when we begin to notice how impermanent and ephemeral our small selves are, how often we are wrong, how limited is our view, how profoundly we change over time. Then we start to take ourselves less seriously. It is not that we shrug and say, "Ah, violence? Who cares." It's more like we shrug at ourselves. When our inner champion for social justice is on her soapbox, crying out against the patriarchy we are helping to perpetuate, we smile gently at her and say, "Hmm. You may have a point there. But is this really about justice, or is it about you? What are you so afraid of?" Because we are holding ourselves more lightly, we can start to take the risk of experimenting. Reciting the lineage of male dharma ancestors one more time is not likely to forfeit all the gains women have made, so what happens if we do it wholeheartedly, just once?

In a particularly open and quiet moment, we may come to see the forms as an Existential Lifeline. Just for a moment, we see what is right in front of us as if we were seeing it for the first time — fresh, without filters, without judgment. If our eyes happen to rest at that moment on a sunset or a stoplight or a coffee mug, we may have a very interesting experience. If we happen to be sitting, or bowing, or chanting, or putting on our wagessa, or caring for an altar, or reading a scripture, or facing a teacher, we may receive a piece of the transmission from our dharma ancestors. It is almost like they have left their initials carved into the rock next to particularly stunning, remote waterfall. The message is: we were here, isn't this place amazing? Then all of the forms appear to serve one purpose, and that is merely to call our attention to the wonder of our existence. In themselves, the forms are indeed empty and many of them are utterly arbitrary, but they are also profound and precious.

It is probably this aspect of the form with attracts us to begin with. Many of us grew up without being exposed to the practice of taking care without any underlying motive. Sure, we knew how to take care of something expensive, or how to take care when we were about to take a big test. But to carefully place our shoes straight or eat mindfully so our silverware doesn't bang noisily against our bowls? Personally, when I first encountered Zen, I found the concept completely radical. The reverence and appreciation these Zen people seemed to have for their lives! I wondered, "How do I get some of that?"

Later, even the stoplight and the coffee mug may begin to speak the dharma of the ancestors to us. Everything becomes (at least in some moments) rich and luminous and poignantly precious. Putting on our coat becomes as reverent and important an activity as putting on our robes. Having dinner with a difficult relative becomes as engaging as a koan. Learning to dance reveals as much about ourselves as reflecting on the precepts.

Ironically, although it is often Zen practice that has allowed us to experience life this way, this is also one of the times when we are most likely to give it up, or at least find ourselves drawn further and further away from it. Our response to form becomes It Is All The Same. Everything is dharma, everything is practice, so why limit ourselves to a prescribed set of acceptable behaviors? Why spend our vacation time staring at a wall, when we can explore the dharma through passionate sex? Why continue to perform the same stale rituals over and over, when there is a world full of spiritual traditions out there to explore? Many of the people in the world who describe themselves as Zen Buddhists but do not affiliate themselves with any group or particular lineage preach the dharma of "it is all the same."

When we recognize the truth of sameness, when we gain faith that everything, in a sense, is holy, we may even experience a fair amount of anger towards our spiritual traditions and advisors. It can seem as if they have tricked us by convincing us there was something inherently lacking or defiled about the world or about ourselves. Perhaps they just wanted to recruit more followers, or perhaps they are much less wise than we thought, but they have distracted us for too long with all their forms and ideals (we think). Now we have discovered the inherent purity of ourselves and of all things, and no one is going to put us back in that prison of shame!

Once again, though, if we still stay with the form, our relationship to it can shift in a very significant way. We may notice that our spiritual advisors were not imprisoning us in shame. We were imprisoning ourselves. Having discovered that there is nothing inherently lacking in ourselves or in the world, we have liberated ourselves from our own views. If there is anyone that needs to be carefully watched lest they capture us again, it is ourselves.

Yet, even when proximity to the form is no longer threatening, there remains an important question: why would we bother to keep holding the form after it no longer seems to serve any purpose for us personally? Why would we continue to enter into the formal spaces, which often just cramp our styles? This was a critically important question for me, as a monk. I realized that as a religious non-conformist, my personal definition of "conform" was "to give up one's intelligence and will; to lack creativity; to huddle together like sheep out of fear." I was shocked to look up the word and find it meant "to act in accord or harmony with a standard or norm." What was I missing here?

When our view broadens, we create space for regarding form as The Creation of Sangha. This is about conforming with each other so that we create something in common and move in harmony together. In order to create anything together, we have to compromise with each other. Each of us has to sacrifice some of our independence, willfulness, personality and flavor not because those things are bad, but because we value and want to support our common endeavor. Imagine what it would be like if the temple was simply open on Sundays for several hours for "spiritual practice," and no other forms were applied. Imagine people coming into the zendo, doing fast or slow walking meditation here and there, bowing in the corners, doing yoga, coming and going, perhaps carrying on conversations and strumming on guitars. Perhaps that sounds like heaven on earth to you, but ask yourself how supported you would feel in your zazen practice, especially when the going got hard.

Every sangha and its attendant forms is an imperfect package. Some of its forms may be deep, beautiful and meaningful, and some of its forms may be anachronistic, awkward and inefficient. When we have invested deeply in the sangha over time, we may be able to negotiate to change some of them. Most of the time, though, we simply engage in the forms because that is the way we do things when we are together. In one sense, the more standardized the form, the more inclusive is the group. It is a very moving experience to go to Japan and see Zen Buddhists straightening their shoes, bowing, eating oryoki, chanting and sitting zazen almost exactly the way we do. We belong to the same family.

Over the long haul, do we believe the sangha is important, to ourselves and to others? If so, then we need to support it, particularly by participating in it. Every time we straighten our shoes, we are addressing the sangha: "I value being a part of this community." When we come to sit with others, even though our practice at home is strong, we are saying, "This community has been of great benefit to me, and I want it to continue for my sake and for the sake of others." Especially when we compromise something of ourselves by following a form, we are saying, "Though my community is imperfect, it is doing the Buddha work."

by Kakumyo Lowe

The Dharma School at DRZC has grown over the last seventeen years into what Buddhadharma Magazine asserts "may be the most complete youth program at any North American dharma center" (Winter 2003). Our current growing pains are an expression of this growth and maturity in the program. Dharma School is doing some restructuring right now, with the goal of meeting the volume of demand and finding ways to allow parents and families to be more involved.

We have averaged 45 children and teens in Dharma School this past year. Such large classes require a staff of fifteen volunteers, a significant portion of the adult sangha, and consume significant Temple resources. Our size is helpful, as we have a critical mass of kids to reliably keep five classes full, and using an array of adult teachers provides a breadth of skills, talents and personalities to the program. Until recently, we've been using the same basic infrastructure that has been in place since there were fifteen children showing up.

The growth of the Dharma School, however, has meant a change in the way we do things, including a classroom shuffle, the addition of two staff positions, and the formation of a loose Dharma School Committee, which oversees practical and strategic planning. Responsibility for the program has gradually become more distributed, as our volunteers become more experienced (the average teacher has been practicing for eight years and teaching dharma school for three and a half). This has given Gyokuko freedom to direct some of her time towards writing a book about Dharma School.

Another trend is the enlarging group of dharma school families who arrive in hopes of exposing their children to Buddhism and end up being drawn in to practice themselves. This is a subgroup that we hadn't imagined when Dharma School was beginning. Dharma School began primarily as a form of childcare for Buddhist parents who wanted to be free to attend meditation and service — we were not set up to support parents who were beginning a practice themselves. Involving families (rather than just children) has been a perennial issue, and there is hope that enough of a foundation has been laid that this next expansion can occur. Some ideas that are in the works include offering a mixed-age book group, classes and workshops during Dharma School for parents, and more "all-invited" activities like the haunted house at Halloween.

Recently, two Dharma School graduates have made the transition into the adult sangha, participating regularly and taking on training positions. This is perhaps the most important piece of news, because it points past the details and shows that something is working - the children and youth enjoy and value the time (even if they resist coming), and they are shaped by the experience. Parents and teachers who have gotten to know the students over years provide ample anecdotal evidence for the growth that has happened through this program.

I work with the middle school group, which often looks like a chaotic mass of resistance and reactivity as identities and personas are formed and discarded at 78 rpm. Still, in the midst of this I sometimes see the kids display a particular flavor of softening, a flavor I'm acquainted with from training with the adult sangha, a flavor I see strongest in long-term Dharma Schoolers, and a flavor I see the newer ones notice and move towards emulating. It has to do, simply, with recognizing the self of the moment, and releasing it. Perhaps everything I needed to know I heard about in kindergarten, but only as I developed a practice did this softening become a lesson I could learn. Occasional hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing aside, I find myself with great delight and gratitude to be a part of offering this practice to future generations.

 

cooling on the table
cookies for Zen class,
the rain still falls

fingertips
stained red and green-
another dozen

murky water;
we cannot see
the rocks below

 

 

by Joanne Sigmund

 

Dharma Rain Zen Center -Board Minutes Summary

11 November 2004

Present: Jeanette Ryan, Gyokuko Carlson, Kyogen Carlson, Kisei Martin, Genko Rainwater, Kat Strieby, Dosho VanSant, Kei’un Lewis, Shisei Niski. Potential Board candidate Sabra Larsen attended to observe. Absent: Gary Oshiro, on vacation.

1) Approval of Minutes from prior meeting

The latest revision of the minutes from the July meeting were approved quickly and unanimously.

2) Open Forum for Member concerns

An email reminder was sent to the Sangha a week prior to the meeting. Nobody brought concerns forward.

3) Treasurer's Report

Income/Expense and Financial Position statements for the fiscal year to date were provided. As of September 30th, we're less than $4k in the red, the shortfall due to depreciation expense. Our cash position is better than the same time last year. Dharma school income is down a bit, but expenses are down also, even though attendance is skyrocketing. Gyokuko will be meeting with parents again to encourage them to all become members. The $10k payment towards our mortgage principal discussed earlier has not yet happened. Kyogen is planning the year-end fundraising appeal, and showed some of the artwork he's considering. The other Directors especially liked the Sanskrit calligraphy. A motion to spend donations designated for "monk & priest support" on monk and priest health insurance first, before spending on other needs, was made and passed unanimously.

4) Membership Report

Raika agreed to participate in contacting renewing members. New members are joining at a healthy pace, and the number of members renewing at higher levels is going up.

5) Operations Report

The recent appeals related to the Dharma House certificate of occupancy were denied. This may mean the changes we make could result in a more "institutional" look than is ideal. The new phone system at the Dharma House is up and running.

6) Calendar Committee Report

Spring Term classes are planned, including an in-depth course on our scriptures. The DaiJukai sesshin will take place March 14-20. Denkoe is May 16-22.

7) Web Site redesign status

Digital materials and first payment were sent to White Lotus Design. We're waiting to see an initial design.

8) Upcoming Board vacancies

Candidate statements from Shisei and Sabra are still needed. J.D. Devros and Sherman Conventry are also running. Ballots will go out in the mail soon. This is Jeanette's last meeting, the end of her second consecutive term. The Board expressed their gratitude for Jeanette's service and calm leadership as President.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, January 13th, 7 pm at the Sangha House.

The meeting adjourned around 8:45 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Joe Shisei Niski

Secretary

 

 

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STILL POINT edit of 27 December 2004
edited for archives on 7 July 2005
Dharma Rain Zen Center Newsletter
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Volume XXIX Number 4 July August 2004
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