Category Archives: Teachings

A Cat Sized Hole

January 8, 2020 Mugo 4 Comments

January at Throssel is a time, for monks, of rest and reflection. Extra formal meditation and a time to turn out drawers, cupboards and boxes, discover, ponder. This is made possible by an evolving team of guests here to do the cooking and generally keeping the wheels of the monastery turning. Much gratitude for their dedication.

While turning out some drawers today I found a card from a dear fellow monk sent in June 2018 for no particular reasons, save wishing me good health. Enclosed with the card was a ‘merit necklace’ she had been given post-surgery. It’s basically a cord with lots of knots in it, simple, full of compassion and an inspiration – actually it’s the monk who is inspirational. Can’t say more than that. Each knot marks a recitation of a scripture – The Litany of the Great Compassionate One. Lots of knots, lots of recitations. At the moment it is looped around the Buddha on my private altar. I love it.

This image is on the card, the poem handwritten inside. The card was designed by a chap who has three Maine Coon cats. Perhaps this is one of them. Ronnie, Gipper or Bojangles? My vote is for Bojangles.

Jewelled Cat by Lewis T. Johnson. Great work by this chap.

A Small- Sized Mystery
by Jane Hirshfield
Leave a door open long enough,
a cat will enter. Leave food, it will stay.
Soon, on cold nights,
you’ll be saying “Excuse me”
if you want to get out of your chair.
But one thing you’ll never hear from a cat
is “Excuse me.”
Nor Einstein’s famous theorem.
Nor “The quality of mercy is not strained.”
In the dictionary of Cat, mercy is missing.
In this world where much is missing,
a cat fills only a cat-sized hole.
Yet your whole body turns toward it
again and again because it is there.

Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Getting Out of My Own Way – Guest Post

January 7, 2020 Mugo Leave a comment

I have been reflecting on my Zen journey quite a lot over the past few weeks. It’s hard to believe that I picked up my first batch of second-hand Zen books from a bookstore about a quarter of a century ago. At the time I didn’t even know why I was buying them. They just seemed interesting and, honestly, kind of exotic. I certainly didn’t expect them to send me off on a lifelong journey – but here we are.

I suppose I was somewhat fortunate that the original owners of those books bought well. Those first few finds were modern classics and translations of the masters. And despite not understanding 75% of what I was reading something stuck. The pursuit was intellectually stimulating but the subconscious attraction that propelled me forward was driven by the recognition of something running much deeper. Zen had the same unexplainable magnetic pull on me that the ocean has had on humanity throughout our history. I didn’t understand the mystery but I also couldn’t turn away from it. This is all much clearer now, with hindsight, than it was at the time.

That period of frantic exploration passed some time ago. There was a period of intense doubt and questioning along the way too. That passed as well. Now I mostly seem to have quiet conversations with myself. I read less and when I do it’s usually a return to Master Dogen. Life and death, almost 1,000 years, and language do not separate us. Ultimately, nothing can. Reading Dogen is a conversation with a dear friend.

I have been thinking a lot about ritual, form, realization, and actualization. The inter-relatedness of these concepts; the different but complimentary purposes that they serve and the ways that they play off of each other are so interesting. My relationship with each of them continues to evolve in complex ways. And despite all of the intellectual observation that is necessary to consciously navigate the world, it is clear that all of this stuff floats on an ocean of great simplicity and great perfection. There is really nothing left for me to do except get out of my own way.

By John

Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Fire, Fire! Repost

January 5, 2020 Mugo 6 Comments

The merit of the following article, first published in 2014, is for all those beings caught up in, involved with and suffering from the massive fires in Australia. Bows

There was a lot of smoke in the air yesterday wafting from the Happy Camp Complex fire which is not so far away from Mt. Shasta, as the smoke blows! Mt. Shasta was hidden from view, the treetops were holding a bit of smoke and you could smell it in the air. As the day progressed I noticed various physical symptoms such as dry eyes and nose, sneezing, headache, skin feeling creepy and my breathing becoming laboured. But what I didn’t connect with being a consequence of the smoke was a growing sense of anxiety and worry. Anxiety can attach itself to anything handy and yesterday anxiety connected to an area of the Abbey garden and the non-functioning of the automatic watering system. The worry grew and grew and by the end of the day, projecting forward into the future I could see dried up Azaleas on their last legs getting ready to die. All because the automatic watering system wasn’t working correctly, today.

By late afternoon I realized I was well out of balance. My level of anxiety was out of proportion to circumstance. I eventually said to one of the monks, I think I need to be locked up! I’d been trying to mobilise help from various monks connected with the watering system and noticed they were looking at me in a kind of ‘patient’ way! Anyway, the kind and very wise monk said, Well there IS something wrong! The ancient part of your brain is registering danger. Danger, fight the fire. So with the realization that the smoke was the trigger for the over the top anxiety about the watering system and that the fires were not a threat and was being dealt with, I relaxed. I let go of being overly concerned with the near-to-death bushes and got on with the rest of the day.

Interestingly as we all sat in the meditation hall this morning I noticed a level of internal buzz in myself. Reflecting, I realized that the fire, the burning up of vast acres of forest and the efforts of the firefighters relatively close was in some subtle way resonating in me.

Where ever one is and whatever the conditions internally and externally we will resonate with those conditions. More often than not it’s not possible to find causes to the way things are within oneself, as I did with the smoke and fire. The basic training instruction is to ‘sit still within the midst of conditions’. This does not mean one FEELS still, far from it. Sitting still is an intention, not a standard to live up to and something to feel badly about when it seems we are falling short.

You might want to listen to the Dharma talk given last Sunday at Shasta Abbey called Searching For Safety given by Rev. Master Serena Seidner. And there is a Dharma talk I did titled Fire, Fire.

Teachings

Literally Speaking

January 4, 2020 Mugo 1 Comment

Our Internet connection was down yesterday, so I picked up a book I’d been asked to review. Here is one of the many teaching stories. The following was taken from the book titled, nothing holy about it, The Zen of Being Just Who You Are, p 18. This book can be downloaded for free as a PDF.

An eight-year-old girl became ill and was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disease. She needed a transfusion, but her blood type was rare. A search went out for a donor. With every passing day, the little girl weakened, and still, no donor was found.

Then it was discovered that her six-year-old brother shared her rare blood type. The mother, along with their minister and doctor, sat down with the boy. Would he be willing to donate his blood to save his sister’s life?

The boy did not answer right away. He wanted time to think about it. After a few days, he went to his mother. “yes, I’ll do it,” he said.

The following day, the doctor brought both children to his clinic and placed them on cots, side by side. First, he drew some blood from the boy’s arm. Then he crossed to the sister’s cot, inserted the needle, and began the transfusion. Almost immediately, the colour poured back into her cheeks.

After a moment, the boy motioned for the doctor to come to his bedside. In a whisper, he asked. “Will I start to die right away?”

Pausing for thought here. The boy understood ‘giving his blood’ literally, i.e. All of it! How often does this ‘taking something somebody asks/says/reads, literally? How hard can that be to negotiate in the nuanced world we function in.

Teachings

Simple Advice for Facing Adversity

January 2, 2020 Mugo Leave a comment

January 2nd 2020. This is an email exchange from around 2006 which still stands now.

I’ve been emailing back and forth with a reader, in a faraway country, who is in mental and emotional extremity, not without good reason. The directions I give this person are specific to that individual however I think there is something here for everybody.

From Correspondent: Could I ask about spiritual texts or prayers or something which could be probably helpful for me to find myself in that situation (and keep the faith) and develop (as I may say like that) my soul? Could you advise something or should I just sit in my meditation for the time being?

From Mugo: Here is a verse we have for circumstances such as the one you are in right now. (I recite it at take-off and landing in an aeroplane.) This is not a prayer to a higher power separate from your own deepest indwelling heart, that which you touch (and are) when you are still within and which never leaves. Never.

The Invocation for the Removal of Disasters.
Adoration to all the Buddhas
Adoration to the limitless Scriptures
Peace! Speak! Blaze! Up!
To the glorious Peaceful One
For whom there are no disasters.
Hail! Hail! Hail!

It might be good to write out the verse and place it where you will see it and remember it. And have a copy to read in moments when you are able during the day. Reciting this is not magic. It will not make anything happen by reciting it. Basically reciting such verses help to keep faith when all around want to drag it from you. You must maintain your faith in, and compassion for, ALL living beings and not allow yourself to be dragged down to the ground, so to speak.

Your eyes, literally your eyes, maybe lifted up from time to time to look at what is high. Tops of trees, roofs, sky, ceiling – this will help you more than you might think. Deceptively simple, yet by simply looking up ones spirits remain up too. Remember particularly to keep your eyes looking ahead when you are walking from place to place, rather than the usual habit of looking at the ground.

That’s all I have for you so please now simply get on with your daily life. Just doing one thing after the other and keep returning to just doing the next thing. An instruction I have when giving a talk on working meditation is to bring your attention to your hands (mostly we are doing things with our hands). This will help you to keep your attention where you are and away from difficult mental and emotional states. Nothing wrong with such states however it is not so good to dwell there for a long time.

From Correspondent: Thank you for all your messages. they are warm and inspiring and recalling an important matter – “You must maintain your faith and compassion for all living beings”…and that everything (all forces, wisdom, compassion) is inside us. Thank you again.
With kind regards,

From Mugo: Glad what I’ve said is helpful. We sang the Invocation for the Removal of Disasters during a ceremony today. I have to say I kept you and your situation in mind as we sang.

Would you be OK with me publishing bits from our recent email conversation? I would like to publish as there is some reasonably useful teaching and it shows that life can get (very) difficult and that one can live through anything and still come through with a glad heart and not a sad one. I hope and pray that will be the case for you.

From Correspondent: HI! Thank you again for a ceremony and your care. As to your question – definitely I’m OK with publishing. Not only because our conversation is so useful and supportive to me, but also due to the fact that the extracts from your discussions with other people published in your blog are always so inspiring and useful for me that it would be my pleasure to give something to others (if I may express it in that way)
Best regards,

This post is in memory of Rev. Master Meiten of Victoria, BC Canada who died two years ago today. In the last few years of her life she faced a great deal of hardship as her health, and mobility declined. She was a spirited person; said it how it is, gathered quite a community of trainees around her and encouraged me to write and to speak about the Dharma. I carped but she insisted! There is a group in Victoria still sitting together gathered under the banner of Vancouver Island Zen Sangha

Jade Mountains Buddha Hall