Loving kindness

I came across a link to this piece about loving kindness meditation in an article about the Dalai Lama retiring.

The more the information gets out there - via CNN or whatever - the better.

A boon for meditation studying

The New York Times had an article today about a donation made by the Dalai Lama to the University of Wisconsin to study meditation. I think this is a positive development. If only meditation were used by more people as a positive tool, we might have a more peace and wisdom in the world.

Hakuin

The dharma talk today is an excerpt from Hakuin's writings on kensho.

Here is a brief story about Hakuin (1686-1769).

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near Hakuin. One day, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child. This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parent went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the child needed.

A year later the girl could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: "Is that so?"

Only now.

You must meditate without wasting time, thinking that there is only this day and this hour. After that, it becomes truly easy.
You must forget about the good and the bad of your nature, the strength or weakness of your power.

Dogen

Party!

OK. Togas are not required or not even suggested. And I really don't know who these people are. But we will be having a little party after the regular sitting on Sunday, Aug. 29. It's a potluck, and so members are supplying the food and people are also supplying their own dishes. Beyond that, we may have dancing. We may have free form jazz combos. We may have hula hoop contests. Just don't know.

We are celebrating ONE YEAR of regularly meeting. It's kind of remarkable. With minimal organization, we've continued to meet every week over the course of a whole year. I hope we provide some sort of resource for people who are seeking the benefits of meditation in their life. And I hope that we will continue to offer this resource for the year ahead.

Mindful speech, mindful listening

Laura read from True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh. The passage she read concerned mindful speech, the need to be conscious of how unkind words in themselves can inflict a certain violence. We talked about the need for deeply listening as well, to really ensure that we hear what is being said.

I was thinking about our conversation later today as I ran down a road near my house. There is a very annoying dog that lives in one house, a toy terrier of some sorts. At every passerby, he barks frantically, madly running around the property. One day I discussed his behavior with the owner of a chihuahua, another breed that is known for being high strung. He observed that his own dog was around people a lot when he was a puppy, and so is accepting of their presence.

Perhaps this little dog was ignored or deprived of attention when it was young. Now, it reacts with hostility to nearly everyone. I see these examples frequently - in people or elsewhere in the world - of how the principles we discuss in the sangha are manifested.

Just be natural

I came across this little piece of advise today. I thought it was good.
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When you meditate, there should be no effort to control and no attempt to be peaceful. Don't be overly solemn or feel that you are taking part in some special ritual; let go even of the idea that you are meditating.
Let your body remain as it is, and your breath as you find it.

Sogyal Rinpoche
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