tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42429155428418800822024-02-08T06:37:59.073-06:00Simple Mind ZenThe Ordinary Mind School of Zen Buddhist practice
<br>after C.Joko Beck, Diane Rizzetto and Ezra Bayda.<br>
Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.comBlogger344125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-34821819351298702752020-03-13T02:30:00.000-05:002020-03-13T14:52:19.680-05:00Spirits Calling
"My soul glowed from the fire of your fire. Your world was a whispering water At the river of my heart." --by the poet Rumi
While in love we often fear, often unconsciously fear, that another will subsume us, that we will drown in relationship, and to some extent this is true. The ego must move aside for the opening to the path to love. Love and the soul however will not be lost or drownSimple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-13994138569141771372019-05-14T16:50:00.000-05:002019-05-26T11:34:44.473-05:00Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Relation Between Man and Vegetable
"More servants wait on man than he'll take notice of." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many over the eons have conceived of, and written of a conception of nature, herself. However in 1848 the American thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, engaged himself in the "Free Soilers" movement with other contemporaries such as the future president, Abraham Lincoln and emerged with an expanded notion of Nature. He Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-17287890595234563372018-07-23T13:39:00.000-05:002018-07-23T18:42:54.275-05:00Heretics and Buddhas
"During the time of the Buddha, there were some who slandered him and became disciples of heretics and demons." -- Mud & Water by Bassui, edited by A. Braverman
While some might wish to think of "Heretics" in conjunction with an event such as the Christian-fueled Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades of Europe, fewer would bring the name of the Buddha to mind. Yet the great Zen master, Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-33614502007359955992018-04-20T15:52:00.000-05:002018-04-20T18:47:20.754-05:00MeisterEckhart
Some people say: 'Alas, sir, I wish I stood as well with my spiritual life and devotions, that I had as much devotion and were as much at peace with the Spirit as others are, I wish I were like them, or that I were so poor'; 'I can never manage it unless I go here or there, or do this or that. I must get away from it all, go and live in a cell or a cloister.'--advices from Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-88939375961797590012018-03-10T12:29:00.000-06:002018-03-11T19:03:49.154-05:00*Maya Angelou Crackers Sometimes
"When
they go, Ghana will be here. They are like mice on an elephant's back.
They will pass...He is just part of Africa." --All God's Children Need
Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
The American writer and poet, Maya Angelou
was among the last of a generation who were raised under the full
weight of segregation. As a child in rural Stamps, Arkansas, Ms. Angelou
was privileged to be Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-82667599617269760502018-02-13T16:30:00.000-06:002018-02-13T19:30:05.839-06:00The Feast of Saint Valentine
The name "Valentine", is derived from valens, meaning worthy, and was popular in late antiquity.
Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing factual is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name.
At least three Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-67378693462800109472017-08-30T16:51:00.000-05:002017-08-30T15:38:03.030-05:00Malthusianism and Scientism
The overproduction of people may lead to an overwhelming burden upon the earth. Science will answer for this concern.
The 19th century Protestant theologian, Thomas Malthus proposed that at some point in the foreseeable future, the world would likely be overpopulated and resources would not be readily available for its inhabitants. Therefore man's fecundity, his most creative output Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-7419387142530267582017-08-12T11:34:00.000-05:002017-08-25T15:08:36.873-05:00Eros In Venus
"Sexual desire without Eros wants the thing in itself." -- The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis
Venus, the goddess of love in Greek mythology and Eros, god of the same are often bandied about; today science and technology have made us too smart, too slick for something so imprecise as a myth. And yet author C. S. Lewis, most famously wrote about this. Lewis, who is the author of many 20th century Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-80137949612990762492017-07-26T16:55:00.000-05:002017-07-29T16:41:23.865-05:00On Friendship
"Friendship must be about something." --C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis wrote a classical interpretation of many emotions central to human life. In his book, The Four Loves, he addresses the meaning of friendship. Drawing upon rich resources such as the ancient Greeks, Romans, traditions borne through millennia, his view may be termed as western, if not universal.
Lewis delineates the many views of Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-89473097745021098802017-07-17T19:02:00.000-05:002017-07-18T15:22:15.162-05:00The Impulse for Affection
"That our affections not kill us, or die." --Donne
Affection unites even the most unlikely of partners. Affection, an intense need to be needed often finds an outlet in attraction, indeed sometimes suffocating obsession, to find, for some, expression in pet holding.
For many, their dog or cat is a substitute for association with ones' fellows. That someone is terribly fond of animals, that Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-57798812674935942562017-07-08T13:00:00.000-05:002017-07-18T15:19:56.394-05:00Zazen, Pure Experience
Recognize that a concept is just a concept, and not reality. --Joko Charlotte Beck
Generalizations. Assumptions. We all make them. And they cause all of us grief. The world as it is. Reality is not an assumption. It's not the way we want things to be, or the way we think about things to be. "Each moment, life as it is--the only Teacher. Being just this moment--compassion's way."
Joko Beck Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-46234500795383170052017-06-30T04:02:00.000-05:002017-07-04T18:38:12.137-05:00Every Thing in the Tao
"Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone." --Tao Te Ching
As a dancer knows, absorption into the dance becomes the dancer. Without separate consciousness they become the dance and the dance becomes them. It transpires effortlessly, without active thought. This may be thought of as a model, a clear example Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-52523623869942273602017-06-16T13:21:00.000-05:002017-06-16T23:35:28.010-05:00Hostage to the Idea of Possession
"Eros makes promises, but agape keeps them." -- The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
Often we find ourselves in places which we never have dreamed of before, places which call for our complete attention, and challenge us beyond measure. Love is one of those places; yet there is no school for love, no way to read a book to easily or painlessly learn of its nature. So we come into adult life armed with Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-24662792951835429712017-05-19T14:45:00.000-05:002017-05-20T16:55:09.760-05:00No Simple Subject is Evil...
"The fall of the first human being from... wisdom to folly was neither wise nor foolish..." On Free Choice of the Will by Augustine of Hippo
While it touches all of us at one time or another, evil is no simple subject. Most of us have many questions and much confusion when confronted with an evil face, sometimes our very own face. Today many are squeamish about the subject itself.
In theSimple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-13776486638799162072017-03-11T07:11:00.000-06:002017-03-11T17:07:52.343-06:00The Religion of Ahimsa
"Man is higher than the brute." MK Gandhi
Writing about Ahimsa, Gandhi briefly describes it as, "the world is full of violence, himsa, and nature does appear to be red in tooth and claw."
He writes of a belief that man is more than a brute and potentially superior to nature. "If man has a divine mission to fulfill, a mission that becomes him, it is that of non-violence, ahimsa.
"The Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-49045243758243943482017-02-25T13:01:00.002-06:002017-02-25T13:07:49.993-06:00What Do You Live For?
"What if what we long hoped for does not come? The willingness to live for a better day."
What am I living for? Living for the joy of acquisition and power
is self serving; living for the good of others is perhaps more in the
Way. Yet we can seem to think ourselves to be living in the Way and yet
we are not. There are those who convince themselves they are right;
their ego has the answer, Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-75520450746687536982016-12-14T17:38:00.000-06:002016-12-14T21:17:28.262-06:00The Suns of Poetry
For some, poetry aims highly at several things. As an art form it uses language in new and creative ways to express ideas and emotions; it creates its own vocabulary for expression of some of our deepest thoughts and feelings. The poet is, in the words of Indian teacher and mystic, Sri Aurobindo, the result of the harmonizing of
"five perennial powers: truth, beauty, joy, life and spirit." The Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-39798135679604248562016-10-12T16:00:00.000-05:002016-10-13T22:10:46.438-05:00Working to See More Clearly
"Take up the way of meeting others on equal ground." --Buddhist precept as discussed by Diane Rizzetto in her book, Waking Up to What You Do.In her book, Waking Up to What You Do, Abbess Diane Rizzetto writes on the precept of meeting others on equal ground. She quotes the writer Dag Hammarskjold, Markings:
"To be humble is not to make comparisons. Secure in
its Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-58285766258643119992016-09-30T13:00:00.000-05:002016-09-30T13:21:02.403-05:00Bassui: An Arrow Flies Straight to Hell
"The mind is host, the body is guest."Zen master and historical figure, Bassui was born in Japan in 1327. Rejected by his mother at birth, Bassui is recorded to have been raised by a family servant. At age 29 he became a monk, but he did not shave his head or wear robes; he did not recite Sutras, like other monks. His practice was the most simple practice. It can be called the practice of no Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-21546372420528721872016-09-09T15:30:00.000-05:002016-09-09T16:12:08.672-05:00How May I Help?
Sometimes we want to help others. When we give assistance to others it comes in different ways. It may be quiet, relying upon the attentiveness of the other, or it may be directly spoken. Sometimes they appreciate our assistance; sometimes others just want to struggle on their own without assistance. The help of others isn't always wanted.
How then may we help? Zen teacher Joko Beck has writtenSimple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-47255129127586373412016-08-26T04:04:00.000-05:002016-09-30T13:17:29.429-05:00Nothing Special: Justice
"An appropriate and compassionate response does not come from the fight for justice..." --Charlotte Joko Beck
Joko Beck in her book, Nothing Special, Living Zen, observes "When someone insists, 'I am never angry,' I am incredulous. Since anger, and its subsets, depression, anxiety, resentment, jealousy, gossip and backbiting and so on-- dominate our lives, we need to investigate the wholeSimple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-60155686148466153072016-08-12T03:16:00.000-05:002016-08-20T14:38:01.414-05:00Nothing Special: Promises Not Kept
"He who does not expect, has all things"
Charlotte Joko Beck writes, "Our human trouble arises from desire. Not all desires generate problems, however. There are two kinds of desires: demands, I have to have it, and preferences. Preferences are harmless, "they are what we would want to like to have,' Beck writes."Desire that demands to be satisfied is the problem. It's as if we feel that we're Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-29344697733398987142016-08-03T15:50:00.000-05:002016-08-03T15:58:58.515-05:00Incarnation, Jews, Covenantal People
Pray to be known, to be understood and to be welcome -- Anthony Gittens
Throughout the many religious traditions the world has known, the idea of both incarnation and covenant have been frequently embraced. Looking at these as a sort of continuum one is able to see the relationship between them. Writing on both these subjects, the author, Peter Kreeft, discusses them in his book, The God Who Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-21579275123216844862016-07-18T10:55:00.000-05:002016-07-18T17:41:59.640-05:00Nature's God the Origins of the American Revolution
"Locke and Spinoza are the chalk and cheese of the early Enlightenment..." -- Nature's God by Matthew Stewart
The origins of America, the United States of America as she is formally known, is set down and cast. Generations have studied her beginnings and precepts in schools and universities across this nation. Yet here comes author Matthew Stewart with his new book, Nature's God, toSimple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4242915542841880082.post-49050684961251187502016-07-08T16:32:00.000-05:002016-07-08T16:43:29.169-05:00The False-Self, Healing
"This was also the point in my life when I became a master at masking my true thoughts." --an unknown blogger
Simple Mindedly browsing though some blogs, I came upon this curious and very honest statement, "this was also the point in my life when I became a master at masking my true thoughts..."
How many of us relate to this? One guesses very many; it seems that one of our Simple Mind Zenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445584278684040056noreply@blogger.com0