The good news is that I have successfully made the transition from delusional wage slave to delusional non wage slave living the simple but good life that functions from a “dharma only” perspective. What this means is that after fifty years on the planet, I do what I am most interested in(and it ain’t making money), realizing and sharing Dharma.

I have no idea how many or few have actually read this blog. Thank you whoever you are.

Remember the old guru whenever you feel overwhelmed by life’s travails, “Vast emptiness, nothing holy.”

as far as the eye can see

nothing to be seen

just this

not even this

ta ta ta…

.

a single bell sounds

la la la - la la la!

Probably doesn’t make any sense at all and that just may be a step int the right direction.

suddenly - Bong!

dinner bell ringing

.

Rohatsu Sesshin is upon us here at Sanshinji. We will begin by having dinner together at 6:00pm and then meet again at 7:30pm for Okumura Roshi’s orientation talk. When he finishes sharing his words of encouragement, we will turn and face the wall, as the Buddha did all those years ago.

We sit a classic Uchiyama style “sesshin without toys” until midnight December 7, followed by a short service, chant the Heart Sutra, to commemorate Buddha’s Enlightenment. December 8 we will gather together again at 8:00am to share breakfast and bid farewell to the people who have traveled to Sanshinji to share this deep practice with us.

I can think of no better way to spend this dewdrop life. To investigate deeply this life  and assist all beings to cross over to the other shore. I am filled with gratitude for Gautama Buddha, for his showing me a Way that is true and filled to the brim with reverence for all beings throughout space and time.

My life is not theoretical. It is real. In this life, at all times, all things are possible. Only I can obstruct myself. I have met many students of Zen over the years, and one thing that seems to be common, is the lack of belief in their own innate wisdom. As if what the Buddha taught and lived is theoretical, as if the enlightenment of the great Masters of the Song and Tang dynasties were only a dream of the distant past, as if the realization, the Daigo, that Dogen Zenji expounded in sutra after sutra was only possible for him, an exceptional person, to attain.

It is only so because you believe it to be so. The mind is vast and limitless, far beyond our personal views. And yet, with our own personal and collective karma, we give it our twist. It is like placing the tree of life in a jar, and wondering why it is all bent and withering, trapped within the confines of a tiny space.

Do not limit what is possible when you choose to take up a wisdom path, a Bodhisattva’s Way. This very ground is complete throughout time and space, manifesting through five skandhas, your five skandhas, as it’s own unique expression of Universal Enlightened Mind or Buddha Nature. You are not enlightened only if you think so…

You were created for the enjoyment of the Universal Enlightened Mind, for the Buddha Nature itself. This is just one fabulous playground, it is you and it is not you. Use your imagination, it is your own light. Believe it.

Thank earth for my ego, without it, I may have never recognized the vast space. This is the ground upon which a real acceptance has begun taking place in my life.

It is interesting how, when we are ready, fresh, to these kinds of empowerment’s awakening to themselves, through ourselves, that manifestations of the same truth in others consciousness, appear before us. The video below is a personal example of this truth being presented through another’s consciousness as a kind of Universal confirmation of the truth that we all share. Indeed, we are all in this together.

I discovered Suzanne Foxton through conscioustv earlier today. This is part six of an interview with her that sums it all up. Just like me, just like you, Suzanne wishes to be happy. Her story, the way she expresses it, resonates with me. Maybe it will with you.

ghosts

through gnarled limbs

this old pine

feels like home

sky to the ground

feet cold and wet!

.