Dharma Rain Character

Still Point

Newsletter of Dharma Rain Zen Center

Portland, Oregon

Volume XXVI Number 4

July-August 2001

 


 

Chishun and Jeanne Burckhardt discovered this statue in a second-hand shop in Switzerland. He sits on a stand with a plaque that reads, "In Gratitude to all the Lay Buddhists of the Modern World." He watches over the Zen Center library.

 


 

from a talk given by Kyogen Carlson in 1999

Today I would like to talk about a couple of passages from the Diamond Sutra. In the Paramitas study group we're using the Diamond Sutra as a point of reference. In particular, there are a number of references to dana, so this Sutra has been in the background lately. Then yesterday at Practice Day we were discussing a passage from the Perfection of Wisdom of 8,000 Lines, which is one of the core texts in the wisdom sutra collections, and I ended up telling a story about why the Diamond Sutra and the wisdom texts are so important to me.

Briefly, the story is this. About four years or so into my time at the monastery, I went into a kind of crisis in my practice, particularly in my relationship to my teacher. I was a jisha, and working as her attendant could be very difficult. Sometimes I felt as though I had no space of my own at all. At times I felt like an object, a piece of furniture in her world. It could be overwhelming. Periodically she would get into difficult moods, and during one of these periods we had a disagreement. I was trying to set limits for myself, and in the process, wrote a letter that really hurt her. All of a sudden my whole career at the monastery, if career is the right word, was on the line. My whole vocation in the priesthood was in question. For a period of several months I had been with her in the Bay area and Los Angeles, then this event took place. I was ready to pack it in, give up my ordination, and return to lay life.

But Roshi told me not to do that, and instead go back up to the monastery, take some time, and figure out what to do next. During this time of crisis I questioned everything, asking, "What am I doing here?" and, "What is this all about?"During this time of questioning, back at the monastery, I started reading the Diamond Sutra.

A time of personal crisis such as this puts you in a very concentrated place. It was as if I couldn't be aware of anything beyond the present day, the present moment, because everything depended upon the choices I was making right then. My focus became very narrow, and nothing else seemed to exist. There was nothing other than the present moment, the present action.

The Diamond Sutra is very dense material. It's complex, and the language is convoluted and difficult. I was reading one passage at a time, a line or two with a commentary each morning. For what I needed, it was a perfect combination: being in a concentrated, focused state of mind and reading this very difficult material. It worked, so that there were some pivotal, important moments of clarification. Because of this, the Diamond Sutra has remained very important to me.

There were two passages that affected me deeply. The clarification of one depended on the clarification of the other. The book I am holding is the one that I used back then, and here you can see where I had marked it. I used a paper clip to connect one passage to the other passage 22 pages further on. I left it there so that I could easily come back to it. Over time the clip rusted, stained the pages, and left those in between permanently dimpled.

The first passage is on dana, which can mean generosity or giving. In it the Buddha is addressing Subhuti, the disciple associated with wisdom in the Pali texts. Sometimes you can tell what a sutra is about by who the Buddha is addressing. Many of the Mahayana wisdom sutras are addressed to Subhuti to reframe the teachings on wisdom. The passage reads:

"Moreover, Subhuti, a Bodhisattva who gives a gift should not be supported by a thing. Nor should he be supported anywhere. When he gives gifts he should not be supported by sight-objects nor by sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or mind-objects. For, Subhuti, the Bodhisattva, the great being, should give gifts in such a way that he is not supported by the notion of a sign."

"Unsupported" in this passage means to do something without an expectation of getting something back. "Mind objects" are self-constructions, those underlying assumptions about the way the world works. They're unconscious and most basic. The Diamond Sutra is saying that dana, true generosity, has to come from a place beyond all of that, from unconditioned mind itself.

Now, the notion of a sign. "Sign" is a technical term for sense data, and "notion of a sign" means holding the view that these sense data point to things that actually exist, which they do not. So it has to do with false assumptions about what things mean. During that trying period, this boiled down to my own need for a sign of approval... a sign of affirmation. "Dana" in this passage referred to my own offering of my practice and my service. So to truly give this as dana, it would have to come from a place that did not depend upon anything external. That meant, for me, that it shouldn't matter what my teacher did or didn't say, it shouldn't matter how anybody reacted. Instead, my practice had to come from a place in the core of my being that arose in spite of any of these things. That is where true dana comes from.

This core place is the same place that the seed of Bodhi comes from - the mind that seeks the way comes from this place beyond conditions and in spite of conditions. The desire to practice arises from the same place that true generosity comes from. A place way down below any of the usual, conditioned and conditional rationalizations.

Last year I did a Dharma talk on grass and how it grows as a plant. When a seed sprouts, it does so in the dark, down under in the ground where it's wet. Without fail, the shoot goes up and the root goes down. It does this without any external prompting other than gravity and the warmth of the earth. The motivation is innate in the seed itself. Dogen calls the mind that seeks the way the "seed of bodhi." True aspiration and all real practice comes from this same place. It is intrinsic, and in the same way that grass has the power to break up concrete and shatter rocks, it can shatter habit energy and shift the whole earth. This aspiration, or mind that seeks the way, sprouting from this intrinsic place despite conditions, will shatter our false conceptions, and it is the only thing that can really change the world.

Because this aspiration arises despite conditions, it arises in prisons, in concentration camps, and amidst the worst degradation. When people take a look at their lives and the world around them and say, "There's gotta be something more than this," they are ready. They're ready to go down to that place beneath appearances and the superficial aspects of life, and there they find the seed of Bodhi. The Buddha found it in the midst of affluence, in the very palace his father created to try to prevent him from becoming a left-home-one. In the palace the Buddha found boredom and dissatisfaction, so despite very comfortable conditions, the mind that seeks the way arose anyway. We cannot predict it. We cannot manipulate it. When conditions ripen that seed will sprout. It is a natural arising, innate in us. We are born to become Buddhas. However, it seems some of us take longer than others.

I want to read the second passage in the Diamond Sutra that was marked by my paper clip 20 years ago. This passage comes after a discussion of the Bodhisattva's practice of the Paramitas, the work, effort and gradual development of a bodhisattva, and how the bodhisattva realizes nirvana. It is a very simple passage.

"Therefore then, Subhuti, the bodhisattva, the great being, should produce an unsupported thought, i.e. a thought which is nowhere supported. A thought unsupported by sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or mind objects."

This sounds very similar to the previous passage, but in this case the phrase "produce a thought" points to the mind that seeks the way developing into the thought of enlightenment, the seed of bodhi breaking open. This thought is conditioned by nothing at all. It is supported by nothing at all. It is said that Hui-neng, known as the Sixth Patriarch, the pivotal Chinese ancestor shortly after Bodhidharma, was enlightened on hearing this very verse of the Diamond Sutra. Conze's commentary on this is:

"In this context it is sufficient to say that the thought which the bodhisattva should produce or raise is a completely free thought which depends on no object or motive. It is the white heat of wisdom intent on the luminous transparency of the void."

This "thought of enlightenment" develops from the intuition that brings someone to seek practice and the questions, "What is really going on here? What's the deeper meaning of my existence? Can this teaching lead to the answer?" These first stirrings are called the "way-seeking mind." We cultivate this through practice, through Dana Paramita and Sila Paramita and all the others. When we clarify it to a firm resolve, it becomes the "thought of enlightenment," and this is the thought the Diamond Sutra tells us should be completely unsupported, completely unconditioned.

When that thought is fully clarified, we begin what Dogen calls the 90-day training period, which is what my personal crisis was beginning to manifest. I had to realize that my aspiration to practice had to come from the soles of my feet... it could not depend upon getting anything back from anyone or anything else, ever. It had to rise up from the core of my being. In the months that followed, Roshi and I reconciled, and I continued to serve her as a Jisha for another five years. But this shift, finding my aspiration despite all conditions, could be called the first watering of the seed of bodhi. About a year later I went into the 90-day training period, but in a way, you can say it began right at that point. Such an aspiration will break through all obstacles, and that is why this Sutra is called "diamond cutter." It will shatter anything.

Now, I'm going to shift to another aspect of the Diamond Sutra and change subjects a little. Hopefully I can tie them together. Reading the Diamond Sutra is difficult, to say the least. There are many passages that are awkward in translation, and very baffling. There are whole series of them where one finds precise, complete, and deliberate contradictions.

In original Buddhism there are stages of practice. There's the "Stream Entrant," or "Stream Winner," someone who has really entered the path of practice, who has really climbed on the bus. When you start to get it, and integrate the practice into your life it's called "Stream Entry." Then there's another stage called "Once Returner." This means that through the practice you clean up a lot of your karmic hindrances, and you're starting to get fairly integrated with the world, but there's a little bit left over. So, "Once Returner" means one more lifetime before enlightenment. "Non-Returner" is a puzzling one. It refers to someone who's really cleaned up the karma, so that they can take rebirth in another, presumably "better," realm and finish it up there. Roshi called it the time just before tipping over, the point just before the mind tips over the edge and falls into the void. A "Non-Returner" is poised on the edge, but has not yet dropped off. Last is "Arhat," or one who experiences nirvana within the conditioned world. Really, however, we shouldn't think of these as firm definitions that don't change. You can be a Stream Entrant, then a Once Returner and a Non Returner in fairly quick succession. Anyway, in the Diamond Sutra, there appear a series of passages in reference to these.

"What do you think, Subhuti, does it occur to the Stream Winner, 'By me has the fruit of a Stream Winner been attained?'" "No indeed, O Lord. And why? Because, O Lord, he has not won any Dharma. Therefore is he called a Stream Winner."

The Sutra continues in the same way for the Once Returner, Non-Returner, and for the Arhat. So, what the heck is all this about? Then you come to this passage. The Buddha is asking Subhuti himself about his own experience:

"Does it occur to the arhat: 'By me now arhatship is attained?'" "No indeed, O Lord. And why? I am, O Lord, the one whom the Tathagata, the Arhat, the fully enlightened one has pointed out as the foremost of those who dwell in Peace. I am, O Lord, an arhat free from greed. And yet, O Lord, it does not occur to me: 'An arhat am I and free from greed.'"

There's a very subtle contradiction there. Subhuti is saying "this I am," yet "I don't think this." Yikes. It continues:

"If, O Lord, it could occur to me that I have attained arhatship, then the Tathagata would not have declared of me that 'Subhuti, this son of good family, who is the foremost of those who dwell in peace, does not dwell anywhere; that is why he is called a dweller in peace.'"

"Does not dwell anywhere" is the key to this. I think a good, accessible, example is of a parent - a mother or a father - seeing their child on the brink of disaster, just about to be crushed or to fall off a ledge. There is an impulse that propels them forward, faster than the thought can arise, to grab up the child and protect them. At such a moment there is no thought such as, "Oh, I am a mother and this is what I will do as a mother." That type of self-awareness is completely absent. The impulse is just like the thought of enlightenment, it arises from the core of a being, and the action to pull the child from the ledge flows directly from that. So we can say that the mother has no thought of being a mother, or of rescuing a child. Because there is no inclination or consciousness of maternal obligation, just the action of complete, pure motherhood, therefore she is called a mother. There is no dwelling in motherhood, no attaining of motherhood, simply the pure action of motherhood.

Such an impulse arises without the layer of labeling, and has an intrinsic quality. We can see it and we can name it, but this seeing and naming is not it. The point of all these contradictory sounding passages is to point us past the labeling. Because seeing and naming it is not it, near the end of the Sutra the Buddha says this:

"Those who by my form did see me and those who followed me by voice, wrong the efforts they engaged in. Me those people will not see."

That's a Mahayana poke in the eye of the group called shravakas, those who hear and carefully follow the instructions. With effort of that nature you can get a hint of it, but it's not yet it. "Me those people will not see." They see the form and hear the voice, but they don't really see the essence. Through the Dharma itself should one see the Buddhas. It is from the Dharma body itself that their guidance comes. Yet Dharma's true nature cannot be discerned and no one can be conscious of it as an object.

The purpose of all these contradictions is to keep throwing us back upon ourselves. We can learn some techniques and tricks of how to get our lives in order by following this teaching, or that form, but that's not really the essence of it. At the essence it is like the mind that seeks the way. It comes from deep within us. The source of wisdom is not something that we figure out, glean from texts, or achieve by copying others, but, thrown back upon our own experience, we can make contact with it.

That's my talk for today.

 

by Annie Rose Macer (transcribed from a conversation)

 

Lew Frederick came to our classroom before Christmas break and announced that the Dalai Lama was coming to Portland. There was a drawing for tickets at the schools, for 200 students to meet the Dalai Lama. Well, when I heard that my mouth dropped wide open and my eyes got really big and it was like, 'Oh my god, the Dalai Lama!' I knew who the Dalai Lama is by watching movies like "Kundun," "Little Buddha," "Seven Years in Tibet," and because all the adults around me talk about him. So I wrote my name on a piece of paper and handed it to Lew and so did a couple of other students.

Then weeks and weeks turned into two months and then three months. Well, the people who signed up were like, "Are we going to meet the Dalai Lama or not?" Then I said, "I will talk to Lew this week because he is the communications specialist for the school district, plus my family knows him." And he said, "Yes, you will be able to meet the Dalai Lama, don't worry." More weeks kind of went by and finally we had a meeting where we talked about what to expect when we meet him, what to bring, what not to bring, like cell phones, pagers, cameras - the usual. We saw a movie about his history and talked about the 200 students and Youth Summit that the group is a part of. We talked about questions we might ask him on topics such as conflict resolution and peace and conflicts going on today.

As the day approached, I got more and more excited. I met two people who practice Tibetan Buddhism and received a kata to give the Dalai Lama if I got the chance. A kata is a white and tannish, long, shiny, rectangular scarf with designs and the words "tashe delek" on it, which means, "May our meeting be an auspicious one." It's like giving flowers.

Then on the big day the alarm went off and I jumped out of bed. I had to say goodbye to Mom and Dad because they were going to the Dalai Lama's teachings that were held earlier in the day. I went to school, and after a while the students and our chaperone, Sue, the assistant principal, took the MAX to the Memorial Coliseum. We had to go through security. It was pretty pathetic, I thought, because they didn't really pad you down or anything. I felt like anyone could have brought a gun in.

We sat around tables in our groups for a long time because everyone had to go through security and it took forever! In groups of 50 we talked about questions we wanted to ask him. There were more questions than there was time for and so we had to choose. My group chose a question about racism. Then we all got together and faced the stage in chairs, 200 of us. He was almost 15 minutes late. When he finally came in, we all stood up, bowed, and said, "Tashe delek," and then sat back down. Each of the people who'd been chosen to represent the different groups asked one question.

I was really stunned by what good English skills he has. Everybody said he had an interpreter, but he chose to talk to us almost completely in English. There were just a couple of words he had to ask his interpreter about. I didn't understand everything he said because he has a big accent, but a few things stuck with me. He said discrimination and racism is "just plain foolishnism." Everybody laughed.

At one point, he was trying to fix his watch and he got really frustrated and then finally just smacked it against the table, whack whack whack, and then the watch broke and everyone was laughing. He said, "Well, I lost my temper! And the outcome of it was a broken watch." He let his feelings get involved in it. He seemed like a big sweetie because he was really happy. He had a big smile and was laughing and positive.

I tried to give him the kata, but I don't think he saw me, so I'm going to keep it on my home altar.

After the small group meeting, there was a Youth Summit with about 8000 high school students. What I remember from this larger group meeting is that he said, "War is like 8-track," because it's old and out of style- there won't be another big war. I'm not sure about that because some of the history I've been reading by Howard Zinn says that every 45 years or so there's a war to keep countries in balance. So that kind of confused me and now I'm constantly thinking about that. Is there going to be another war? Is it out of style? I don't think it's really out of style with all the bombs and the guns there are in the world.

He took a piece of candy, started chewing it, and then spoke and then chewed some more and paused and chewed some more and then scraped his teeth with his finger and said, "Candy good, but stick to teeth!" Everybody laughed.

He talked about appearance and how teenagers are concerned with it. He said, "Blue hair? What does that mean except, 'Look at my hair!'?"

At the very end, he said that boys and girls need to look out for the younger ones and take care of each other, but most of all, take care of themselves.

I thought that the experience was really good with some good advice. I'm kind of confused about some stuff, but overall, I had a blast and hopefully I will always be able to remember it. I think he's a big sweetie.

 

 

 

by Hoyu Lowell Clardy

 

  Untitled

After the rain
puddles
lying in stillness
reflecting the world
     
         

Naming Hides

When it falls warm,
we call it "rain."
When it falls cold,
we call it "snow."
When it collects and flows,
we call it "river."
When it collects and does not flow,
we call it "lake."

Same substance,
different names.
Does the naming change the substance?

 

 
         
             

 

       
     

Morning Event

 

Coyote
bounds 'cross road
white chicken flopping from mouth
breakfast!

     
     

 

 

 


 

Zen Center News

Ango and Denkoe: Going Forward is an Everyday Affair

Ango, a period of intensified practice, began in April with a ZCO-hosted sesshin and ended with the DRZC-hosted sesshin, Denkoe. Daily practice allowed for more sitting and a chance for individuals to focus on formal practice. The number of participants this year was small, perhaps because planning and publicity were not as elaborate as in past years. This was due in part to the unstable situation at Larch Mountain Zen Center, where one piece of property was sold and there was considerable moving about. It is hoped that DRZC and ZCO will be able to coordinate more of their activities and classes in the next joint Ango from April 18 to May 19, 2002.

   

The windows at the front of the zendo are in the process of being restored. The work was started during Denkoe.

 

Due to availability constraints, Denkoe was held in-town rather than at our usual, more secluded setting at Camp Adams. The general feeling was this in-town sesshin was a success, and Denkoe will probably be in-town again next year. When retreats are held at the Zen Center instead of another facility, the Center actually makes some money instead of just breaking even, plus there is a great benefit to the Center during work periods. This Denkoe headway was made on several projects we couldn't have taken out of town: scraping the Zendo exterior, rejuvenating the east wall of the Zendo, yardwork, reorganizing the basement storage area and valiant toilet plumbing repair.  

 


 

First Year of Seminary a Success

We've ended our first year of seminary (though one summer workshop remains, described under Events). It was, by most accounts, a real success. Almost all those who began the year are choosing to continue in spite of the reality of homework and term papers, and several more students are jumping in mid-stream. We have a schedule ready for the fall, covering the Prajnaparamita Sutras and Dogen's teaching in special seminary classes, and some of the elective material will be covered on Wednesdays during regular open classes.


 

Wesak Festivities and Hilarity

 

During this year's Wesak, the children led the ceremony and sweet tea was ladled over the figure of the baby Buddha, who stood upright with hands outstretched pointing to the heaven and the earth. As usual, it was a joyous ceremony in which we celebrate why the new Buddha said, "Between heaven and earth, I alone am the world-honored one!"

Left: The youngest Sangha member present blows out the candles on the Buddha Cake.

     
       
 
 

 

 

Top: The Buddha Cake

 

 

Left; The whole Sangha, including the Dharma School students, sings "Happy Birthday" to the Buddha and admires the cakes, before the candles are blown out.

It is a DRZC tradition to then have the children break a piñata (a "zen-ñata") after the youngest child blows out the candles on Buddha's birthday cake. This year, the zen-ñata was the six-tusked white elephant that appeared to Maya at the Buddha's conception. It was homemade and durable, but it finally fell prey to the high school sluggers.          
 

 

 

Right: The great, white, six-tusked elephant zen-ñata in its pristine, "pre-whacked" state.

     
         
 

 

Above and Right: From youngest to oldest, everyone gets a chance at the zen-ñata until candy and prizes rain down on the floor. (Once you are out of Kindergarten, though, you have to wear a blindfold.) Dharma School students wait eagerly for the goodies to fall.

 


Endings and Beginnings and Endings

Sun. June 3, a short term-closing ceremony was held. Those present made statements about the significance of the past training term in their lives, providing closure for the term and marking the transition from the busy Zen Center term schedule to our lighter summer schedule. The ceremony expresses gratitude for the peace we have enjoyed for the past three months and ends when the shuso blows out the altar candles and says, "rest."

Following a break, two short ceremonies were held. First, there was a naming for Emma Freil, the newly adopted daughter of Catherine Brown and Rick Freil. Catherine is a member of the Hood River Sitting Group. Then Lily Farris, who is soon to leave for college in British Columbia, formally entered the adult sangha. Gyokuko-sensei stood at the entrance to the zendo and three times asked Lily what it was she wanted. Three times, Lily answered, "I wish to enter this zendo as a trainee." Gyokuko then led Lily around the zendo in a half-bow, and everyone present made gassho as they passed. Lily then bowed at a special altar and thanked her family for their care before taking her seat in the zendo.

 

Right: Kyogen performs a naming ceremony for Emma Freil. Jiko Tisdale assists as Emma's parents, grandmother and brother stand as witnesses.

 

Afterwards, the Dharma School children performed songs and skits to mark the close of another year of Dharma School.

The various age-appropriate groups in Dharma School have been studying the Paramitas, each in their own style.

 

Right and Lower Left: At Dharma School closing the boys' group treats us to "zafu drumming" and chanting as Sean Farris dances.

   
     
 

 

Far Right: The grade-school girls present a Buddhist fable about a person-eating tiger, a rather foolish lady, public opinion and a jackal that saves the day (for the foolish lady).

In this scene, the Mayor's wife tells the foolish woman that she deserves to be eaten, for letting the tiger out of the cage.

 
 

Left: Kakumyo's Dharma School students get a feel for his new "do." Gyokuko-sensei looks on. Kakumyo was newly shaved because he had just become a postulant.

Kakumyo and his middle school students entertained us with Paramita "knock-knock" jokes. (Who knew there was such a thing as a Paramita knock-knock joke?)


Operations Corner

As an introduction, operations corner is our way to keep the Sangha updated on the goings on in the operations committee. The operations committee is where we plan what repairs, improvements and projects are undertaken by the Sangha. It's also where all of the work practice jobs you get at retreats come from. So now you know who to blame. All kidding aside, the operations committee and the many volunteers that attend work practice days are behind most of the work you see going on at the Zen Center.

Right and Lower Left: The zendo during and after power washing. Some have described it as a "distressed" look, not without some charm. However, this summer we will continue to scrape it and eventually paint it. This will be a massive job, especially when scaffolding is required or we are scraping the trim.

     
            There are many projects that we are in the middle of and even though it's summer schedule, things will continue as volunteers allow. The biggest project right now is the long needed exterior painting of the Buddha house (the Zendo building). Lots of scraping has been done but there is much more work to do. Another project is the restoration of the wall behind the altar. In the coming weeks the wall will be finished off with trim around the new windows. Everyone got a quick look at the windows before they were taken down. Only some of the windows had the original stained glass. We took the other windows to a stained glass artist and he matched the old stained glass. In the coming weeks the wall will continue to take shape. Summer is also a busy time for gardening. There are numerous areas that are being renovated especially at the Sangha house
 
         

If you would like to get more involved in some of these projects please talk to a member of the committee, there will be lots of work this summer. Members: Gyokuko, Dosho VanSant, Kakumyo Lowe, Kyonin Lee, Shoten Carver, Tai'an Blackwood, Gyoshi Kaplan and Anthony Stevens.

 

Right: The stained glass windows at the front of the zendo are being restored. What work is not being done by bostulants, monks and Gyokuko herself will be done entirely by volunteers - please consider helping out.

       

 


 

 

       
     
         

 


STILL POINT edit of 30 June 2001
Dharma Rain Zen Center Newsletter
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Volume XXVI Number 4 July August 2001
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