by Nomon Tim Burnett
June 17, 2008
Dear Sangha,
Summer is here, a time when there is a big drop off in attendence at meditation, yoga classes, and therapy sessions. A time of joy and relaxation, or a time of denial of our deep human problems and challenges? Or probably a mix of both. What is summer for you? I myself often create some suffering in summer by having overly ambitious plans. We want to cram so much into summer. My goal this year is to relax more and just take it a day at a time. We'll see.
Here in the Northwest a very cold and damp spring has finally released into some nice summer days, but I know in many other parts of the country you have been experiencing some extreme weather of various forms. The climate really is changing it seems - I don't think anyone can really deny that anymore.
But regardless of the outer climate, our job as Zen students is to work with our inner climate. Can we enjoy the changing weather of the mind and work with what comes up without being thrown off in despair or pride or any number of self-focussed emotional pits that sometimes seem to surround us? Of course these pits aren't really real in the way we think they are and neither are we exactly. So that's part of our practice, through meditation practice over time we become more and more nuanced in our understanding of the permeable and fluid nature of our mind and life. Always changing so radically! Well that's the hope anyway, our perceived progress maybe be more in fits and starts.
This pursuit of a healthy and balanced life has had me thinking about the topic of healthy discipline. Zen practice is seen as a very disciplined way of life and yet the actual experience of Zen practice is so varied and complex, especially Zen as we are practicing it as lay people. And yet we do it seems all strive for some discipline in life. We know that just goofing off does not in the end provide the deep satisfaction we seek. And neither does beating ourselves up with perfectionism and endless striving. So what is a healthy, balanced discipline in life?
I haven't come to any conclusions about healthy discipline really. I have given talks and led discussions about this at our recent Zen and Yoga retreat with yoga teacher Amy Robinson and as a recent zazen meeting with the sangha. You can ready my long (too long probably!) talk from the other night online at
http://www.redcedarzen.org/dharmatalk.html?talk=17
One thing that has occurred to me is that the 10 paramitas of Mahayana Buddhism are a helpful guide towards what healthy discipline might be. The paramitas are the "perfect practices" or the "practices that go beyond." I'll paste in the section from my talk on the paramitas just to remind ourselves of what they are. This is far from a careful accounting of them and I do recommend Robert Aitken-roshi's wonderful book on them The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective. After this except please do scroll down though, there are several new summer events on the schedule to let you know about.
From Healthy Discipline a Dharma Talk given June 12, 2008:
A Buddhist list worth considering as a guide to healthy discipline is the list of the paramitas of "perfections" - unlike many Buddhist lists these practices are listed in the positive and affirm us in our efforts to wisely extend into the universe to generate benefit. They deserve a whole series of talks really but in brief there are the the practices of Bodhisattvas that purify karma and benefit others. There are 6 original, core paramitas, and 4 that were added later. All 10 are worth our attention.
They are
1) Dana paramita - generosity. The Diamond Sutra promotes this practice as does the Buddha in the teachings in the Pali Canon as the key to all practices. I love this quote from the Buddha talking about the incredibly positive benefits of generosity which you might have seen on our newsletter.
"Oh monks, if people knew, as I know, the result of giving and sharing they would not eat without having given, nor would they allow the stain of stinginess to obsess them and take root in their minds. Even if it were their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared it, if there were someone to share it with. But monks, as people do not know, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they eat without having given, and the stain of stinginess obsesses them and takes root in their minds."
This makes me think that our household is trying to give 5% of our income to charity and the main obstacle for me is just getting around to it. I guess if I knew as the Buddha does the real results of generosity I would have that giving way higher on my priority list.
2) Sila paramita - virtue, morality, practicing the precepts. There is a strong interaction between healthy discipline, the paramitas and the precepts. Or you might say the precepts are a thread running through all of these ideas on how to live.
3) Ksanti paramita - patience. And not just putting up with things patience, this is the transcendent patience of Buddhas with no little worms of anxiety and impatience in there. Just breathing and being with beings giving them all the time they need.
4) Virya paramita - enthusiastic energy. This is the effort we bring to bear on our healthy discipline practices. We rouse up energy with enthusiasm and joy. We have fun with this life as we work with it. We recognize it's perfection as it is and as Suzuki roshi said that it needs a little improvement.
5) Dhyana paramita - strong concentration, as from meditation practice. Sit every day if you can. Come to zazen with the community and also if you haven't already you might consider trying the longer retreats. The word "Zen" itself is a transliteration of Dhyana, so this paramita is our whole practice in a way.
6) Prajna paramita - transcendent wisdom. We chant about prajna paramita all the time. This is the wisdom that includes an understanding of the empty nature of all things. Everything exists as a temporary constellation of factors, marked by impermanence and non-self. There's nothing there to get too excited or attached to and yet everything is beautiful and complete. To see both sides of this is the liberating insight of prajna which really loosens us up and makes things like the endless patience of Buddha possible and sensible.
7) Upaya paramita - skillful means, this can be the 2nd level of practicing the precepts - the relative level where you may need to apparently break the precepts in order to fully follow the precepts. It's hard to know what's skillful most of the time but the comitmment of upaya paramita is to keep trying to help ourselves and others in the best ways we can find.
8) Pranidhana paramita - vow or resolution, I am lately more and more interested in this practice and trying to connect with it. I am doing a class as Samish called The Precepts as Vow because I think that the deep power of vow might be a kind of missing ingredient in our practice sometimes. The antidote to mechanical and step-wise efforts. The Boddhisattva vows are a good example of vow. They inspire us at the level of vow we are energized but at the level of practical reality they are overwhelming and impossible, so it's skillful to work with a vow at the level of vow.
9) Bala paramita - spiritual power. Easily misunderstood and deserving of further study, I'll get back to you on Bala paramita.
10) Jhana paramita - direct knowledge, free from conceptual hindrances. This is the much romanticized wisdom of the Zen masters that we see sometimes in our kĹŤan studies. That sense of doing just so, just what's needed without thinking about it or worrying about it. Just responding to the world. Jhana also refers to deep meditation states so there's a connection there. All of this rises from our deep practice of letting go.
So those are the 10 parmitas as another expression of how to live a life of healthy discipline. It's nice that they are expressed positively isn't it?
…
That's a little bit of my talk from the other night. I am very curious to continue and develop this conversation on healthy discipline. What is healthy discipline in your life? Please feel free to write to me or let me know what you think.
Upcoming Events
Samish Sesshin - Dharma Talks
Thursday June 19, varies - Wednesday June 25, varies
Samish Island
Couldn't come to the Samish Island retreat this year? Please feel free to drive down to attend Norman's Dharma Talks. The schedule varies, please see below. Please arrive at Samish at least 15 minutes before the talk starts. The Zendo is the large building at the east end of the Community of Christ's Samish Island camp which covers the eastern end of Samish Island. (turn right when you reach Samish Island through the Skagit Valley, near the town of Edison). Full directions were just added to the places page of www.redcedarzen.org.
First half talks in the evening:
Saturday June 21st 7:40pm
Sunday June 22nd 7:40pm
Monday June 23rd 7:40pm
Second half talks in the morning:
Wednesday June 25th 10:20am
Thursday June 26th 10:20am
Friday June 27th 10:20am
Please note also the Jukai (receiving the precepts) ceremony for Latona, Laurel, and Lee will be held at 7:00pm on Friday June 27th and all are welcome to that as well.
Friday Noon Meditation for Parents
Every Friday this Summer, 11:30am - 1:30pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
The Red Cedar Zen Community has hired Shelby Sneva to do provide children's art and childcare programs in our downstairs multipurpose room at the Red Cedar Dharma Hall on Fridays during our noon-time meditation.
Shelby is a wonderful teacher with an infant of her own. She was Tim's son Walker's pre-school and pre-K teacher at Little Darling School and it also an artist and art educator. We are excited that she is available and enthusiastic about helping with this program. Providing new ways for parents, especially of young children, to join to together with others for meditation and having a spiritual life is a big goal of Tim's. Becoming a parent can be so isolating!
Schedule: on every Friday we have
11:30 - noon: Shelby is downstairs and available to kids and parents, come any time in this period to drop off, hang out, help kids get started on the activities
Noon: non-parents are arriving for meditation and getting settled
12:10pm formal start of meditation
12:40pm end of meditation, start of short chanting and bowing service with kids could join in on
12:50pm done in the meditation hall, Shelby and kids continuing downstairs until
1:30pm Shelby closes up.
We see this is as very flexible and parent-friendly. Parents needn't worry too much about noise, or if you have to enter and leave the meditation hall during the meditation period because your kids need you. Older children are also invited to join parents in the meditation hall.
Parents are encouraged to feel free to use the building while kids are working with Shelby in other ways too. We have a good Buddhist library and it's just a nice, quiet place for a short retreat. Parents could sit more upstairs from 1:00 to 1:30 or do other self-care activites like yoga or just rest.
Suggested donation to cover Shelby's time is $5-$10 / family.
We hope to get this up on websites and flyers out to preschools and so on soon but in the meantime please let your friends know.
Receiving the Precepts Ceremony for Latona, Laurel, and Lee
Friday June 27, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Samish Island
Latona Maillard of Bellingham, Laurel Vogel of Whidbey Island, and Lee Lourdeaux of Vancouver will receive the precepts together in the jukai or zaike tokudo (Staying Home, Entering the Way). Please join us at the zendo (large 'CFC' building) at the Community of Christ's Samish Island Campground on the last evening of sesshin to support and celebrate these three dharma students. All are welcome whether you are attending the sesshin or not.
This important public ceremony is a step in the path for these three people but also an important step for the community recognize that it's a place that can support training in the precepts - the heart vein of Buddhist practice.
Sailing Home - Book reading with Norman Fischer
Thursday July 03, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
Join us for Norman's Bellingham stop on his national book tour for his new book on this life as a spiritual journey: Sailing Home Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls.
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship is located at 1708 “I” Street, Bellingham, just West of Dupont St.
Advance Praise for Norman Fischer’s SAILING HOME
“We all sail across the wine-dark sea, and Sailing Home gives humane, wise instruction for our voyage.”—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology and A Path with Heart
“It is not so easy to come home to yourself, although it may be the most important journey any of us will ever take. This profoundly inspiring book reminds us of why the cultivation of awareness and kindness are so necessary and so difficult. Norman Fischer brings [the Odyssey] to life, and us as well, so that we can remember what muses are best listened to, especially when we are so easily captivated by false dreams of security and attainment.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and Arriving at Your Own Door
“I would not have thought a modern Zen master meditating on Homer's Odyssey was a promising notion. Wrong! Sailing Home is both delightful and insightful. Reflecting on the wanderings of the wily Odysseus in light of the wisdom of the Zen tradition turns out to be surprisingly relevant to the modern heroic journey.”
—Sam Keen, author of Sightings and Fire in the Belly
Market Day Open House at the Hall
Saturdays in July, Noon to 3:00pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
Volunteers will be on hand to welcome you in to Red Cedar Dharma Hall at 1021 N. Forest Street (just down from the Majestic). Take a peek inside this beautiful community space for the practice of mindfulness and compassion. With the help of a partnership with the Earth Room for funding assistance and a dedicated crew of volunteers, Red Cedar Zen Community and its partners have created a place of peace and meditation in downtown Bellingham which we would like to share with the Bellingham community.
The building will be open from noon to 3pm on every Saturday in July. After your market shopping is done please consider stopping by. See the space, pick up brochures, relax a minute in the peace and quiet on this space dedicated to awareness.
RCZC and BIMS members: we need more volunteers to staff the Open Houses. You need not be an expert on Buddhism or anything, just a willingness to be in the building and welcome people in is all that is required. Please contact project coordinator Mary Apple at mo4metta@yahoo.com or 360-380-3151 if you would be willing to volunteer. Or simply sign up on the sign up sheet on the bulletin board at the Dharma Hall.r
Brush Creativity Workshop with Kazuaki Tanahashi
Saturday July 12: 9:30 am--5:30 pm and Sunday July 13: 9:30 am--3:30 pm
Centre for Peace
1825 West 16th Ave, Vancouver
Sponsored by the Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver, BC.
Brush lines are
honest reflections of our body and mind. Drawing lines with awareness helps us
to be fully attentive, decisive, and present. Brushwork has been an important
part of meditation practice in East Asia. Brush creativity brings forth a new
dimension of insight, healing, and joy. We will explore the learning and
creative process of the four-thousand-year-old tradition of East Asian
calligraphy. Brief Zen meditation, discussions, and demonstrations will help
clarify deeper meanings of the brush movement. The tools and materials will be
provided. No previous experience is necessary.
See http://www.mountainrainzen.ca/events.html
for information.
Introduction to Zen
Saturday August 02, 9:00am - 1:00pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
An introductory class and retreat with Resident Priest Nomon Tim Burnett. The basics on sitting and walking meditation and other ritual forms. On the spirit of living a life of healthy discipline with the guidance of Zen Buddhism. Designed for new students or those wanting to renew and deepen their understanding. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Summer Picnic
Saturday August 23, 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Lake Padden
Mark you calendar for our summer picnic, a joint production with Bellingham Insight.
Annual Mountains & Rivers Hiking Retreat with Bob Penny, M.S., naturalist & experiential educator
Thursday September 04, 7:00pm - Sunday September 07, 5:00pm
Mount Baker area
Inspired by Dogen's Mountain and Rivers Sutra, this retreat includes silent backpacking through a beautiful old growth hemlock forest to a seldom-visited base camp at Mazama Park, just south of Mount Baker at the foot of Park Butte. Camp activities include traditional zen practice, a short solo exercise, and opportunities for day hiking.
The retreat is led by Bob Penny, M.S., naturalist, senior Zen student and experiential educator. Hiking is gentle to moderate, four and a half miles one way. A sturdy three-sided shelter is available for meditation if the weather is bad. Cost (includes breakfasts, dinners and trail parking passes) is $80.
Participants provide their own lunches and trail snacks. Limited to 12 participants. Registration deadline is Sunday, August 31st. To register, or for any questions, please call Bob Penny at (360) 398-8834.
October 2008 Study Retreat
Saturday October 11, 8:00am - Sunday October 12, 3:00pm
Red Cedar Dharma Hall
In this two-day study retreat Norman will teach on an important topic in Buddhism. Details TBA.
In previous retreats Norman taught on the Prajna Paramita wisdom sutras, Shantideva, and Zen Koans.
A study retreat is a regular feature in our fall practice schedule.
These retreats include sitting and walking meditation, but their main focus is study and discussion. There will be two talks and question-and-answer periods each day. Individual interviews with the teacher (dokusan) are not available at study retreats.
Scholarships to cover up to half of the retreat cost are available. Please contact the registrar.
Check back again for registration information.
EVENTS IN SEATTLE AND VANCOUVER, BC
The Red Cedar Zen Community maintains close relationships with other nearby groups in our lineage, the Seattle Soto Zen sangha and the Mountain Rain Zen Community in Vancouver, BC. Current events and additional information is provided on their respsective websites.
yours,
Tim
Nomon Tim Burnett
Resident Priest
Resident Priest Nomon Tim Burnett has been a student of Zoketsu Norman Fischer since 1987 when he was a resident at San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm. After sitting practice periods at Green Gulch and Tassajara Zen Monastery, Tim helped found the Bellingham Zen Practice Group in 1991. Tim was ordained as a Zen Priest by Norman in June, 2000. Like his teacher, Tim is interested in the possibility of deep and complete practice by lay people.
A person of wide-ranging professional interests, Tim has been a botanist, elementary schoolteacher, writer, and computer programmer. In addition to his work at the Resident Priest of Red Cedar Zen Community, Tim works as a software developer.