TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST
Episodes
Friday Oct 29, 2010
Buddhanomics: The Things That Are Free
Friday Oct 29, 2010
Friday Oct 29, 2010
I hear from folks every day touched by the bad economy ... jobs lost, houses foreclosed, marriages under stress, people in crisis. These are hard times for so many.
Over the coming weeks, I will offer a series of talks on what Buddhism has to teach about the economics of "hard times". Some of it will cover big topics that impact the whole system, with our consumerism, materialism and wasted resources. The future is at stake! But some of it is small, and right at home.
Today, we will start with a really simple lesson. In fact, it is so true, so wise, so often said ... that it sounds like a greeting card, a bumper sticker, a fortune cookie. But it is TRUE AS TRUE CAN BE:
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE --ARE-- FREE!
When the bank's repossessing the car, when hopes and dreams go up in smoke, when we have a leaky roof over our head on a rainy day, it good to appreciate the rain!
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Thursday Oct 28, 2010
Even As
Thursday Oct 28, 2010
Thursday Oct 28, 2010
"EVEN AS" ... an ordinary phrase that one hears used a lot around here:
Drop all thought of "this and that" ... even as we live in a world of "this and that" ...Drop all thought of anything to achieve ... even as we keep moving forward to get things done ...
Drop all thought of anyplace to go ... even as we have places to go and people to see.
Drop all thought of "time" ... even as we watch the clock.
This even as sounds so ordinary ... even as nothing is ordinary!
Today’s Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended.
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Monday Oct 25, 2010
The Compass of Zazen
Monday Oct 25, 2010
Monday Oct 25, 2010
A frequent visitor to our Sangha gifted us with a lovely post ... on Zazen and choices ... on "sitting with" questions ...
Zazen is compass-ionate
Yes, folks, indeed it is.
Take what is tumultuous, sit it down in zazen Like a true compass, zazen points And in that pointing, all directions thereby are known
Take what is submerged, sit it down in zazen Like a bubble of air, tugging toward ‘up’ No amount of being rolled around by life’s undertow Can mask the fact ‘Up’ is ‘up’
zazen, if not now, in this lifetime, then when?
I do not feel that Zazen will always allow us to know the "one correct choice" to make at a life crossroads, the "one right answer" to every life problem. But it sure will point us in the right direction of good answers and choices ... toward more helpful, healthful, more peaceful, wise and compassionate choices free of anger, greed, selfishness. The silence and open space of Zazen allows our heart a moment of calm in which to settle on a course, free of self destructive impulses and biases.
Visit the forum thread here!
Friday Oct 22, 2010
Dumb Animal
Friday Oct 22, 2010
Friday Oct 22, 2010
Well, the cat is home from the hospital ... minus his tail, bandaged up and down.
Somehow, he seems okay with it ... too "simple minded" and "dumb" to rehash the past, worry about his limited future, his options, to be traumatized by the drama, concerned about his scarred looks, to mourn for his missing tail. He just sits with it all ... and purrs.
Oh, what we might learn from poor, dumb animals!
Where did the cat's tail come from, where did it go?
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Monday Oct 18, 2010
Cloud Self
Monday Oct 18, 2010
Monday Oct 18, 2010
This lovely poem of Dogen is an attempt to convey through sound and breaths his real and original face. The mountain of samadhi, the moon of awakening, the white and changing nature of rice, cloud and water. This is also a precise description of what takes plcae when one sits, the no-self being realised when everything is invited adn included in a lively process of expanding in all directions.
On a portrait of myself
1249, Echizen
Fresh, clear spirit covers old mountain man this autumn.
Donkey stares at the sky ceiling: glowing white moon floats.
Nothing approaches. Nothing else included.
Buoyant, I let myself go~filled with gruel, filled with rice.
Lively flapping from head to tail,
sky above, sky beneath, cloud self, water origin.
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Saturday Oct 16, 2010
What Makes You Think?
Saturday Oct 16, 2010
Saturday Oct 16, 2010
NOTE: PART OF END OF TALK WAS CUT OFF ... BUT THE POINT GETS ACROSS!
There's an old Chinese story about the son and the broken leg ...
A farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to console him over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"
A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"
The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.
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Wednesday Oct 13, 2010
Stone Woman Dancing
Wednesday Oct 13, 2010
Wednesday Oct 13, 2010
An old Zen poem, the 'Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi' ...
When the wooden man begins to sing, The stone woman gets up to dance.
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Saturday Oct 09, 2010
Avoiding The Jive And Hype
Saturday Oct 09, 2010
Saturday Oct 09, 2010
It’s almost to the point that there’s a flavor of Buddhism for everyone, especially in the West! From A is for Amida to Z is for Zen, there are groups and teachings of all stripes … the monastic and the “out in the world” types … traditional and tradition breaking … many teachers in between, mixing and matching. The Western Buddhist world comes in ten thousand colors and flavors!
And that can be GOOD! I have never been a “my way or the highway, one size fits all” kind of Buddhist. Different folks may require different medicines for what ails them. Find the path and teacher(s) right for you.
All you have to do, though, is avoid the snake oil, the image driven jive and hype, soothing but empty cliches, crazy cults, charismatic charlatans and ego maniac gurus professing “freedom from ego”, downright crooks and con-men, New Age dribble and pseudo-psycho-babble, fast food drive-though spirituality. Also, don’t fall into “spiritual materialism” … shopping around in the Dharma department store for the fluffy and flashy, for teachers of ‘anything goes, feel good philosophies’, “teachings” that just say what we want to hear (and not what we need to hear). Oh, and if you do stumble on a worthwhile practice, be sure not to quit too fast … as soon as it becomes a little demanding.
Do all that … and you’ll be just fine!
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