One way of thinking about Zazen (zen sitting meditation) is that it is just being present with your ordinary mind. It is both plain and open. I find that when sitting I can attend to whatever is present without meddling or trying to achieve something special. Zen meditation cultivates familiarity with with the body, mind, feelings, and spirit. The balanced posture is a complete expression of our universal nature and things as they are. Silent sitting is the the Zen way of touching the ground of being.
Sitting is a chance to meet myself as I really am, not how I wish to be, think I am, or how I was. Zazen opens the door to the wonderment of existing right now. Welcoming silence closes the gap between the so called 'outer' and 'inner' worlds. As Katigiri Roshi was fond of saying, there is 'no gap' between you and the world. Just sitting is a field of intimacy, direct experience, and truth.
Zazen: Just Sitting
Zazen: Body Posture
The basics of Zen meditation are straightforward. Create a stable and balanced posture that allows your back to be straight, your breathing open, and your mind focused. The details of the posture are reference points for experience. When you get lost in fantasy or memory, emotional or physical difficulty, your posture can give you a way to examine it through experience.
You can sit on a cushion, bench, chair, lie down, or walk when doing zazen. Make an effort to keep your head balanced on your shoulders and your back straight and relaxed. You can hold your hands in your lap, or if you know the Zen hand mudra you can use that. Stay in the center, neither leaning forward or backwards or left or right. Keep your eyes half open and lightly focused downwards a foot or two in front of you.
Take a few breaths. Then observe your breath like you might watch ocean waves at the shore, coming in and going out. Center your attention in your belly by feeling your breathing, getting a sense of the movement of breath throughout your body. Don't control your breath or your mind.Your breathing will change naturally. When your body settles your mind often follows. Let thoughts and images come and go.
Enjoy being present with life as it is now, no matter what it is!
Dana Paramita: Giving
One Buddhist teacher suggests that giving is the root of all virtue. Dana Paramita epitomizes the Buddhist ideal of selfless living, of organizing your life around the care and nourishment of all beings. This deepest of intentions focuses less on our own satisfaction, which more often that not ends up in misery, than on an attitude of generosity toward the world. To quote a Tibetan teacher, "The way to be happy is to make others happy". When counseling people, I often suggest they give what they want to get, which although simplistic, really creates the context for mutual fulfilment and harmony. If you need attention, give it, if you need comfort, give it, if you need love, give it, if you need peace, give it, if you need touch, give it. This turns self centered compulsions on tilt.
Of course danger lurks within the ideal of selflessness, because many of us have been trained to deny our needs or to think of self care as selfish. Any guilt or shame associated with treasuring yourself is a conditioned piece of identity that harms your well being. Selfless giving is not synonymous with self denial. I have found that as my life and practice have matured, I need less and value simplicity more, and also that there are really very few things in life necessary to my well being. I allow myself to have them, but since they are few, I am available to others. It seems the more I contribute, the more I feel a sense of belonging and the inherent joy associated with generosity.
Zazen and mindfulness practices keep us centered in our body and the present. When we are completely present and available to the world, responding with openness and spontaneity, then giving of ourselves is an unselfconscious activity, it isn't something we try to affect, it is an extension of breath and voice and eyes and ears and heart and mind and naturalness. Including all things into the space of your being is itself the gift bestowing hands of all the Buddhas.
Without thinking
I offered him a ride home.
What's to hold back?!
3 Marks of Existence
The three most essential truths of Zen and Buddhism are traditionally called 'the three marks of existence'. They are how things work in the moments, days, and flow of our lives, and in the lives of all sentient beings and existences. If you pick up the practice of clarifying them in your life they can illuminate your confusion and difficulties. Alignment with them can bring clarity and peace.
Mark #1: Everything Changes. This is stating the obvious. There is nothing in the universe that doesn't conform to this: atoms, rocks, trees, people, dogs and cats, suns and moons and stars. Things arise and come into existence, they hang out and durate for a time, and then they go disappear. They are like clouds forming from vapor and then dissipating. When you can see this completely, your attachment to the apparently 'solid' and fixed nature of things can subtly shift, and flowing with life can become easier. How we deal with change, transition, and evanescence is a cornerstone of self examination and insight.
Mark # 2: Life is Suffering. This truth can be distasteful. If you are alive you will suffer. There is no way out of this. Much human folly is involved in either clinging to suffering or keeping it at bay. The Zen path acknowledges, invites, engages, welcomes, and befriends suffering. This movement toward suffering is done not only for oneself, but for the benefit of 'all beings', for everything that exists, which is the altruistic ground of Buddhist life. Birth, old age, disease, and death are the source of living. Welcoming suffering is the beginning of a path to Great Joy....May All Being Be Happy!
Mark #3: There is no Self. This can be perplexing. The Zen path of awakening hopefully helps clairify this. Nothing in reality exists alone or has something you can point to as a separate reality. So the matrix of life, , also called our buddha nature, is outside of conceptualization. In Zen practice we learn to treasure each person and thing as Buddha, as a point of unity and difference in the cosmic net of Reality. We also emphasize the ordinariness of life, the nothing special quality of reality. No glitter, no big deal, just eat what's on your plate.
Karma
When you do something there is an effect. There is no escaping the laws of cause and effect, even though Buddha goes beyond the laws of cause and effect. Karma is simply the results of your actions. The Buddhist wheel of life splits the circle of karma into two halves, one 'good' and the other 'bad'. I prefer to think of all karma as learning experiences, some are wholesome and some are unwholesome. Hopefully we learn from both.
The saying "What comes around goes around" nails karma on the head. Your present life is the sum total of all of your actions of body, speech and mind. It is also the sum total of all activity of the present universe....but that's not within your control, so when it comes to developing your character, Zen practice teaches how to be responsible for your actions and how they influence others. This is the path away from self centered behavior and toward all inclusive activity that respects the uniqueness, dignity, and views of others. Each of our actions is a ripple in the big pond. How we bring benefit to others through our actions is the Bodhisattva path.
When I look honestly at myself I am sometimes appalled at my self-centeredness, as well as at the thoughtless ways I interact with people sometimes. As I heard one well known Zen teacher say, her practice has progressed from 'me me me me me me me' to 'me me me me you me me'! Suzuki Roshi said that our usual way is to point a finger towards ourselves, but that Zen is pointing a finger away from ourselves. Something changes quite profoundly when we become concerned about others. Eventually, taking care of them is taking care of ourselves, for in the non-dual world of dharma there is only total subjectivity, each being is your own face. What would the world be like if we could each add a few more 'yous' to our 'me me me' mantra?!
Walking gently
Each step touches
The whole earth
Discipline
Discipline means returning with devotion. It is continual practice. Discipline doesn't mean beating yourself with a hair whip, or hard core spiritual push ups, or tightening up on yourself so much that there isn't room to breathe. In fact, discipline means breathing and flowing with your life without being distracted. Discipline is the effort we make to stay in the middle of the road.
If you pay close attention to your life, you will know when you are out of balance and whether you need to pull on the reins or ride with the wind. As your commitment to Zen practice grows, your difficulties with discipline will arise and perhaps become clear. How often do you meditate? How do you train your mind to settle? How do you contribute to the sangha? How do you rein in your impulses? How do you balance feelings? How do you work with passion? How do you allow yourself to be lively and vital? How do you study? How do you work with your life and find accord with all things? These are the questions of discipline, and how you wrestle with and resolve these questions will be how your spiritual life manifests.
Some people are good at discipline in a same time same place kind of way. I'm not, so I work with this, showing up on a regular basis to activities. Other people are good at just sticking with practice in a more willy-nilly fashion, and over the years they keep coming back. Some prefer practicing alone, some in groups. I think if there is a measure of discipline it is simply the sincere longings of your heart to cultivate clarity about your Buddha nature, to bring loving kindness into the world, to heal the fractures within yourself as you move towards wholeness, and to walk with great sensitivity through this brief life.
When scattered, I sit.
When dour, I laugh.
Yin and Yang, balance is the way.
A Great Silence
There is a great silence. It will find you when you step out of the noise. This silence is a dragon flying through heavens, a carpet of fall leaves, the ocean caressing the shore, a heron in a silver bowl. When this silence sneaks into mind, the world falls away and reveals itself and purifies your heart.
This great silence is an invitation to step out of your house, not through the front door, but through all the windows. Suzuki Roshi called it a letter from emptiness. It is the soil out of which all trees grow, blossom, and whither. It is the peace that we long for and think is over mountains and down rivers far from home, yet the mountains walk through us and the rivers pulse in our veins.
This great silence is mana. Stop wherever you are and listen. Sit on the grass. Close your eyes. Listen with your pores. It is all around you, a golden pearl at the center of the things. Glance out of the corner of your eyes and the shadow of luminous silence will waltz through you. It is your long lost friend, waiting for you, waiting, waiting, waiting....
I sit in the morning sun
as the pond whispers
to the bare trees
Doubt
Doubt is part of the ancient path to spiritual wholeness, for without out it, you will accept the pablum of dharma without the digestion required for insight, integration, and integrity. In other words, serious doubt when combined with spiritual curiosity is like a mariner's compass on a wind swept sea. What can I trust? Who can I trust? What path will lead me to awakening and insight, to compassion and wholeness? What is the best way to wrestle with personal, family, and work problems? How shall I relate to the world, living and dying, existence?
Doubt when turned inward can lead to humility, for it can help us question our motivations as well as our conditioning. Doubting becomes problematic if it leads to nihilism, atheism, agnosticism, or the inability to cultivate faith. So on the path of the middle way, doubt and faith walk hand in hand. With doubt we question things until we truly comprehend them, and with faith we completely trust the unfolding universe.
For those of thus that are doubting Thomas', let us take heart from Shakespeare: "Our doubts are traitors that make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt". You may doubt that zazen is in fact an expression of your Buddha nature, or that you can continue with a lifetime path of insight, or that you have the resources to balance the demands of your life, yet if we find encouragement and support from within and without, we can persevere as we walk around and through the circle of reality.
Leaving the pond
empty handed,
do fish really live here?
Faith
Faith is the surrender of egoism. Whereas hope is the wish for a particular future outcome, faith is an immersion in present reality. Neither is faith a belief in something, for belief is a cognitive attempt at stasis in a flowing universe. Belief in something sets it apart from one's own being; faith transcends separation.
Faith most resembles trust in that it requires immersion in the unknown reality of life, it demands that we set aside personal choice in favor of the unpredictable and ongoing transformation of everything. To be a person of faith requires humility and simplicity in the face of chaos and complexity. It means what we want and desire pales in the face of what we already have and how things actually manifest.
An old Zen saw says it requires faith, doubt, and perseverance to practice Zen. What does it mean to have faith in Buddha? It means to set your small self aside, to let go of the many manifestations of clinging to your ego identity, self image, personal desire, your past, your future, even your present, it means to go beyond, and then beyond beyond, it means to drop stark naked into what you can't fathom and then trust that the universe will reveal the light you already are, it means to die to all definitions of your separate self. Faith is a means of bowing into life and dying into the moment. It is exhaling yourself away.
Beside the creek
on a crisp autumn day,
falling maple leaves transmit faith.
Being at Ease
One of the seven factors of enlightenment is being at ease, a manifestations of Suzuki Roshi's 'calmness in activity and activity in calmness'. How do we let our body and mind flow with the comings and goings of the day, with the vicissitudes of life, the hormones and illnesses and stressors and joys and sorrows of living and dying? Being at ease isn't always easy! In Zen practice it cultivated over time by the continual practice of zazen during which you learn the art of sitting through whatever comes up and whatever life throws at you.
I am lousy at being at ease so I practice it quite a bit. My body and family karma was to learn to live an anxious, intense, emotional, judgmental, competitive, and impulsive life. Of course, we live in a performance and image driven culture, a culture of endemic denial, isolation, and fractured families, so this is just my version of the collective angst. Nobody gets off. The equanimity of Zen is both a helpful antidote and a sane way of living, for when we can approach things with stability and balance our world becomes peaceful and calm.
Breathing naturally and mindfully is the root of being at ease, and this requires an open belly and diaphragm, relaxed body musculature, and a balanced posture, all ingredients of meditation. "Breathe!" is a helpful injunction. In order to cultivate an attitude of ease requires examination of how we worry, or how we dislodge our experience from the present moment with anticipation or memory. The present moment is the pivot point of equanimity and balance. I find the more I am at ease the more I am alive and awake in the present, receiving the gifts of experience and relationship.
So much noise and haste!
Flowing with my breath
I return home
Simplicity
As I mature (read aging and losing my hair), my love of simplicity continues. I am drawn to the simple, plain, old, and well used, and as an artist I am deeply satisfied with the wabi sabi aesthetic of rusted buckets, dilapidated barns, tractors rusting in fields, all that is fading and evocative of unknown past utility. Rikyu's love of beauty and the understanding that one flower is all flowers ended up in his samurai style execution, pity the emperor who didn't understand that the whole universe manifests in each thing.
Simplicity of mind is truly joyful, and for me the source of poetry. A clear single thought! A vivid impression that forms a string of vowels and consonants! The mind is complex, emotions the same. Modern life measures itself in nanoseconds and light years and the geopolitics of interdependent ecosystems. The grind has us tossing and turning at night. How do we find simplicity today, in the moment, right now!
In Zazen there is a brief moment between in and out breathing, a resting place at the very bottom of things, the abode of silence and not-knowing, the simplicity of essential being, presence without a thought, flowing calm mind that is a river of peace, the blissful warm bath of the still center of things. Whitman, in his poem 'When I heard the leaned astronomer', waked out of the science class and all the explanations to stare in silent wonder at the stars. On the path of living and dying, simplicity is a way through the eye of the needle.
A single cherry
left on the bush,
Fall turning to Winter
Wholehearted Living
Zen practice has taught me to throw myself into life. Each moment's activity is the whole of my life and worthy of complete attention and participation. Wholehearted living means opening to whatever greets me throughout the day. Of course, as a mortal there are gaps in my ability to participate with all of myself and in my undivided receptivity to others and events. This is the realm of practice, the place where the inconsistencies of my presence can be refined by zazen and tilling the soil of my character.
We often fear and think of death as a finite event, yet with some insight it is clear that death is much greater than that, for there is a living death that far outweighs the demise of our corporeal existence. We die each second that we fail to participate in the vital moment, in the breath of our being, in the presence of all reality as it meets our senses. We die by not being fully alive and responsive to the miracle of our own existence, an existence that is connected to all other existences throughout time and space, and our presence that is of the moment and linked to all other moments of past, present, and future.
Wholehearted living is living with an indiscriminate loving kindness. It is a readiness to receive what life has to offer, regardless of our proclivities toward judgment, preferences, expectations, and emotionality. It is waking up in the morning with a song in your heart and the willingness to say YES! A smidgen of street wisdom: Life is short, don't waste time!
I welcome
morning shadows
with a warm smile
Walking Earth
One of my greatest joys is walking. Not power walking, exercising, or traveling toward a destination, but true walking which is wandering with a heart moved by whatever presents itself. Strolling through forests is equally as satisfying as a busy neighborhood beat. I take heart from Thoreau's essay on walking, a guide to the art of strolling, observing, and living in relationship to the earth and society.
Zen has taught me to walk with my mind in my feet, to feel each step and the ground underneath. We are always in relationship to the ground and the earth, which quietly, consistently and steadily supports our every moment. Gravity is our friend and standard as Lao Tzu reminds us when he says that 'gravity is the root of grace'. There is an elegance to a well balanced flowing body, and walking in grace is swimming in the ocean of being with everyone, it allows the redwood trees and ferns and leaves and faces of humanity to come forward as the essence of the moment.
How we walk is the metaphor of life, it is the rhythm and flow of how we stand and move and think and feel and sense our way through living and dying. Are we willing to stand upright and with profound yet gentle awareness, allowing our feet to meet the earth? Does our stride and pacing arise from some inner depths and with a sense of connection to the places through which we wander? Is our head balanced and our eyes open, do we move through life with some sense of being centered and of the earth, can we allow our legs and feet to relax as they swing forward in a natural gait? How do we pace ourselves on this walk, this day, this moment?
Walking green mountains
Following the river
The forest awakens
Welcoming the Unexpected
Life is unexpected. Everything that happens is unexpected, it never conforms to any idea, plan, notion, or sentiment we have about it. The reality that arises in the present moment is never our picture or movie, it is an unknown and immediate surprise. The thought that things are going are way is a veneer of comfort that can impede our direct perception and experience of the vibrant moment. Sometimes things go our way, sometimes they don't, sometimes they are very neutral, and Zen is a constant crash course in meeting things just the way they are without meddling. Are we continually willing to be surprised?
Throughout the day I am caught off guard by life's little surprises: an unplanned tax notice, a call from a distant friend, feedback that hits me in the gut, a touching moment of being loved, a newspaper article about genocide. Zen practice has helped me stop and open to these moments without resistance, to welcome them as life presenting itself to me, as the joy of an unfolding day. These moments are Buddha, they are the matrix of total engaged living. The quip 'Life is what is happening while you are making plans' is a fine teaching.
How do we meet the unexpected? This rich question can sit on our shoulder throughout the day and provide helpful information about where we are stuck in our conditioning, about how we hang onto our concepts of how life should be. A favorite story of mine is about the sage-fool Nasrudin. He watched a hawk for a long time, then cut off its beak and talons with a scissors and proclaimed 'This is what a bird should look like!'. If we can catch ourselves trying to impose on things as they are, we can then open to the wondrous dynamic of the present and let our boat float unimpeded down the river of life. I have found I need to use oars far less often than I believe.
A spider web
suddenly appears
in morning light
Four Abodes
The four abodes are manifestations of practice that reveal the heart of loving kindness. They are manifestations of our universal nature, and serve as lights on the path to peace.There is no right way to be, and no one particular way to be in life, so they are not idealized ways of acting. They seem to show up as our meditation practice matures and as we become whole hearted in our life.
Metta is unconditional love, or love with no object. We each already have the ability to love everything unconditionally without expectations or prejudice. This beacon can be turned on ourselves and others. How to practice this with family, friends, neighbors, and the world at large is a lifetime effort.
Karuna is compassion. It is a kind of ultimate empathy that arises from sympathetic identification, the ability to be at-one with others and circumstances. When we connect with the tapestry of life and experience the unity of life then we can breathe the suffering of the world into our heart and act from love.
Mudita is joy at the good fortune of others. Envy is a form of spiritual poverty, our jealousy a mark of our separation from goodness and people. Wishing for the good fortune of others and celebrating it when they have it makes for a warm heart and a light spirit. May all beings be happy!
Upekka is equanimity, an evenness of temperament and activity. Zen meditation posture is a manifestation of equanimity and teaches the body and mind to settle in balance. To live this way is difficult. Much spiritual insight can be fathomed from examining how we are out of balance in our lives.
Five Hindrances
I think we naturally long for inner peace. My own list of habits that keep me from a settled sense of well being has at times been rather long. I'm happy just to have a shorter list. For several millennium, Buddhist have had a short list of five hindrances that keep most people from enjoying serenity and stillness. Zen practice isn't about putting on handcuffs or making them going away, but recognizing them, watching them, exploring them, and then discovering how they perhaps lesson their hold on your mind and life as you become friends with them. This is the beginning of learning to make friends with 'enemies', which the world needs if ever there is to be peace.
Sensual desire is hard wired into our brain and cells. It is natural to have longings and desires. To make them all go away would make us less than human. The questions are do they run us, can we exercise restraint when appropriate, and are we healthy in our relationship to desire?
Anger and ill will mask our disappointments and keep us from loving kindness. In Zen we learn to see everyone as Buddha, to respect their dignity and realize their lives are intertwined with ours. Sometimes meditation means being on fire with your own anger, and pondering how to acknowledge it and transform it into beneficial action.
Sloth and Torpor mean more than just being lazy of body and mind, they also mean being lazy about seeking the truth, spirituality, and ethical conduct. How curious are we about the nature of mind, loving kindness, compassionate action, our inner development, healing the troubles of the world?
Restlessness and Worry can be an inner plague, insidiously inhabiting the nooks and crannies of our being. We can worry about the past, present, and future obsessively. I have found that much of worry is about wanting to be in control of things, or having shame and anxiety. The extent of the worry seems proportional to how far distant I am from the present moment. Restlessness of body and mind can be a lifestyle. Sitting still clarifies how it happens and can cultivate deep abiding calm.
Skeptical Doubt is the naysayer within, the guardian of self centeredness that keeps trust, faith, surrender, spirit at bay. Perhaps it symbolic of the war between mind and heart, body and mind, and all the neurotic anxiety and depression that keeps us from committing to a life of wholeness, intimacy, and love.
Non-Dualism
Non-Dual means there isn't a gap between subject and object, that what we perceive as a gap between things is an artificial creation and a conditioned perception. With meditation practice that separation disappears and we can see that it wasn't there in the first place. Buddhist say that the subject, object and act of perception are joined: the eye, seeing, and the seen are one. At the center of Zen experience is non-dualism.
These days many teachers and practices talk about it in a way that departs from the Zen understanding. Sometimes it becomes a commodity. When non-dualism becomes a goal to achieve or an idealized state or something special, then this isn't true to the heart of Zen. Also, when we are attached to non-dualism we are also far from our true nature. The awakening of non-dualism in Zen isn't separate from the activity of refinement, or working with the difficult problems of our lives.
Non dualism doesn't mean completely non-dual nor totally unified or merged. These can be likely misconceptions. It means the merging of difference and unity, that both uniqueness and the whole of things are interacting. This is the paradox of reality, the not-two not-one essence of Zen. Many Zen parables, teachings, and questions help students ponder the mystery of non-duality and how it arises from shunyata, the emptiness of reality.
Zen is a tradition of realization in action, of wisdom meeting the moment. Just having an intellectual understanding or even awakened insight would be like Mark Twain keeping a frog in his pocket without letting it hop about. Zen practices can help us discover how to live non-dualistically in our work, home, relationships, and stewardship of the earth.
4 Noble Truths
Commonly known as the 'four noble truths', these notions place the encounter with suffering at the center of Zen practice and Buddhist philosophy. Upright implies straight, true, solid, core, noble, magnificent, beneficent, and embodied. The four truths are more than abstractions, they are the prima materia of Zen practice and realization.The simplicity of the truths can camouflage the difficulty of accepting and working with them.
The first upright truth is that life is suffering. The hedonistic side of us wishes this were not so, the shameful and guilt ridden side goes 'definitely', and the morose or depressed side prefers to drown in it. We spend much of our inner time running from suffering, abhorring suffering, or staying asleep to its pervasive nature and impact. Few people pick it up to study, experience, and transform into loving kindness, tolerance, patience, and truth. The acceptance of suffering doesn't deify it but rather turns us into realists, pragmatist, and insightful heroes on the spiritual path of awakening.
The second upright truth is that there is an end to suffering. This is a bold paradox that requires deep faith. If life is suffering as the first upright truth suggest, then there can not be an end to it because it is ever present. Perhaps this is the first koan (paradoxical question of spiritual inquiry) of Buddhism and Zen; how does one put an end to suffering? There is no glib or wise answer that will suffice of course, because this is what each person must resolve through decades of spiritual inquiry and living. When we study our own life and loosen the tensions that bind us, our relationship to suffering seems to change.
The potential of change leads to the third upright truth: there is a path away from suffering. Please notice that the third truth doesn't say that the path away from suffering means that suffering stops. The oft quoted saying 'pain required, suffering optional' hints at the path and transformation. Something occurs when we embrace suffering whole heartedly, when we find the balance between our own suffering and the suffering of the world, when the gap of self-other is closed and we awaken Universal nature.
The final upright truth is that the path has eight steps. The eight steps are powerful ones and can be a compass for wise living. There are also infinite steps, for each moment-activity could be though of as a step toward resolving our relationship with suffering....if we are willing to do so and see it as such. So the Eightfold Noble or Upright Path are the cornerstones of Buddhist Practice and an effort to resolve suffering...for all beings everywhere through all space and time.
Sutra of Loving Kindness
Kanji for Loving Kindness
I read the Metta Sutra of Loving Kindness every day. The altruistic aspirations help me touch the grace of good will toward the earth and all inhabitants....two leggeds, four leggeds, winged ones, fish, and creepy crawlers as the Native Americans would say. The Sutra speaks for itself.
This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, who seeks the good and has obtained peace:
Let one be strenuous, upright and sincere, without pride, easily contented and joyous.
Let one not be submerged by the things of the world.
Let one not take upon one’s self the burden of riches.
Let one’s senses be controlled.
Let one be wise but not puffed up; and let one not desire great possessions even for one’s family.
Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove.
May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety.
All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, born or to be born, may all beings be happy.
Let no one deceive another, nor despise any being in any state; let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
Even as a mother at the risk of her life watches over and protects her only child, so with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things, suffusing love over the entire world, above, below and all around without limit; so let one cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world.
Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all one’s waking hours let one cherish the thought that this way of living is the best in the world.
Abandoning vague discussions, having a clear vision, freed from sense appetites, one who has become complete will never again know rebirth in the cycle of creation of suffering for ourselves or others.
About Tai
Taisan Sheridan is a Zen priest in the tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He was ordained by Myogen Steve Stucky, Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, and began his practice in 1969 with Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center. Tai is a member of Dharma Eye Zen Center in San Rafael, and has also trained at Green Gulch Farm, San Francisco Zen Center, and Tassajara.
Taisan has a doctorate in professional psychology and degrees in counseling psychology and anthropology. He founded Dharma Yoga as a response to 911 and is recognized by Yoga Teacher Alliance as an advanced yoga instructor and teacher. He has trained and certified beginning and advanced yoga teachers. Before becoming a Zen priest he had careers in counseling and organizational development. He specialized in group process, executive coaching, and organizational change and worked with both large and small corporations and non-profits. He is the father of four children and lives in Marin County. He is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys hiking, sailing, skiing, canoing, backpacking, swimming, and leisurely nighttime walks.