All posts by Mugo

Rods Not Cones.

There is something rather primal present when the lights go out.

Yesterday morning started with my plugging in the Jewel Trees on the main altar and, after a brief flash, the ‘jewels’ went out! This time of year, with the days getting ever shorter, is when light takes on a significance greater and deeper than one might imagine. For one thing, with attention more inwardly directed, past actions can slide into the present and be learnt from, if Compassion is in the ascendancy. People who suffer from the Winter Blues also know about the significance of light and I suspect most people get a bit down as the sap descends, brown leaves remind of impermanence and the turning year asks us to move on.

It has always been the case that when electricity fails me, I am transported from the ‘lights of Wisdom’,(so to speak) to the ‘darkness of delusion’, in other words I feel helpless and hopeless. And that is how my day went yesterday, in darkness, as I pondering unhelpfully on past actions. The combination of needing to, in fact, cross the road and remembering the Swan poem took me right out of myself and the light went back on. Life is like that sometimes, it just springs up and teaches when you least expect it to.

Wednesday night is when people come to the Priory for a ceremony, meditation and a class. We talked about The Swan and little did I know this was written by a well favored poet. The conversation tended towards ‘taking the next step’ and how life is made up of little ones that can lead in directions one could not have predicted standing on the shore.

The impending new year brings up questions around future directions, renewed resolve, next steps in life. We tend to think that what is ahead is completely unknown and ultimately this is true. However, if one ‘looks’ in the way one uses ones eyes in dim light, through the ‘rods’ at the edges of ones vision and not the ‘cones’ in the centre, the sense of what is there to do will emerge. I’m not talking about anything other than simple meditation practice however perhaps the above will help take the ‘angst’ out of lowering your self into the waters of the year to come.

The Wholehearted Way.

The Swan
Rainer Maria Rilke

This clumsy living that moves lumbering
as if in ropes through what is not done,
reminds us of the awkward way the swan walks.
And to die, which is the letting go
of the ground we stand on
and cling to every day,
is like the swan,
when he nervously lets himself down into the water,
which receives him gaily
and which flows joyfully under
and after him, wave after wave,
while the swan,
unmoving and marvelously calm,
is pleased to be carried,
each moment more fully grown,
more like a king, further and further on.

Translated by Robert Bly

As I stood waiting to cross Calgary Trail to-day I realised for myself, not for the first time, that it takes a special courage to “let ones self down into the water”. The word courage comes from an old French word ‘cuer’ which means heart. Ours is the Wholehearted Way, no half measures, no half lowering oneself into the waters that carry us with infinite compassion. Thinking about it, there is no room for half heartedly crossing Calgary Trail either!

It has been an interesting day. Hope you like the poem as much as I do.

Shooting Baskets.

Time to inject a photograph I have been wanting to offer for some time. Somehow this picture always makes me smile. I hope it does the same for you.


Cactus ready to shoot baskets in Arizona!

I took the picture in Tucson in 2001 while taking a night stop-over on the way to visit congregation members, a very long days drive, further East. I have always had a fascination with cactus, beside this array of ‘adults’ were vast green houses stocked full of ‘infant’ ones!


Infant cactus.

A Pure and Gentle Heart.

It might have been the young women in black charging down the isles with headsets on asking me, “can I find something for you”, “do you need help”? Or it could have been because it was the end of the day and it was getting dark outside. Or simply that there was just too much choice and I didn’t actually need any of the books. What ever it was I left Chapters book store this evening empty handed, again!

There is a line from a scripture which goes something like, The True Way is easy for those who do not pick and choose. Of course we all have to make choices all the time. This line is pointing out the mind of discrimination, a mind set in the opposites. So when I can discern wisely what it is ‘good’ to buy with my gift card I’ll return.

We had a good day on Sunday with quite a few people coming for the Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony in the morning. Afterwards a number of us went to a vegetarian restaurant run by a devout Indonesian Buddhist. Thankfully I’d been there before and so I just ordered what I’d had last time. Menu’s are particularly difficult as monastic training in Zen is very strongly geared towards exercising non discrimination around food.

Zen Master Dogen wrote rules to regulate every aspect of the trainees life in the monastery. They are called the “Eihei-shingi”. The Fushuku-hampo (Meal-Time Regulations), being one of the rules, starts with this quote from the Vimalakirti Scripture (written by a lay-man by the way).

“When one is identified with the food one eats one is identified with the whole universe; when we are one with the whole universe we are one with the food we eat.”

The first time I went to the above restaurant the owner asked me, just as we were leaving, if I’d do a Dharma talk at the restaurant. I said “I’ll think about it”! Returning this time I kinda hoped he would not ask again since talking in public is not something I am naturally drawn towards. As it turned out he didn’t ask; I offered! The generosity emanating from the people there just caused me to set caution aside and be generous back. If something comes of this I am sure I’ll be able to think of something to speak about. The Tenzo-kyokun (Instructions to the Chief Cook) for example is all about the attitude of mind while cooking; cooking with a pure and gentle heart. That kind of ‘heart’ can go anywhere.

When The Lights Went On in Washington.

I happened upon the Oprah Winfrey Show this evening while taking a moment to relax and found myself gladdened to encounter a highly creative performance of a poem entitled An Amazing Peace. It’s author, Dr. Maya Angelou, was joined by Oprah and a choir, not your ordinary poetry reading however I don’t remember ever seeing one before anyway.

Maya Angelou said “I wrote about what is in everybody’s hearts”, she spoke to mine. The poem is a call to peace with arms wide open, heart extended far beyond the boundaries of religious affiliations. Beyond affiliations of any kind, she was after all pointing to a ‘heart’ at rest. Dr. Maya Angelou, you are quite a lady. Thanks.

Today a good friend of the Prioy came for tea and most generously brought a Gift Card for “Chapters”. That’s the oft mentioned book shop on Whyte Avenue that I visit from time to time. Now, armed with this card I can allow myself to wander the shelves with intent to purchase. Maya Angelou’s poem has just been published, I’ll certainly pick it up and take a look if I see it.

If you follow the link you will understand the title of this blogger.