Memories; Temple Kung-Fu

At 14 years of age, sleeping in the basement of my home, and watching late night television, I saw a white-haired man beat up ninjas on a bridge.

The next morning I woke with such promise.  I had quit everything to date; soccer and piano made no impact on my life anymore.

Learning Chinese Gung-Fu was the beginning of my studies as I delved deeply into Taoist and Buddhist works, spending my free weekends in Calgary Chinatown drinking bubble tea and browsing the shops, returning home with trinkets such as the three wise men.

Buddhist Stoicism

And there is no Buddha, even.  When you do not understand Buddha, you will be concerned if I say there is no Buddha: “You are a priest, so how can you say there is no Buddha?  Why do you chant?  Why do you bow to Buddha?”

There is no Buddha so we bow to Buddha.  If you bow to Buddha because there is Buddha, that is not a true understanding of Buddha.

Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha – no problem.  Whether I am at Tassajara or San Francisco, no problem.  Even though I die, it is all right with me, and it is all right with you.  And if it is not all right, you are not a Zen student.

It is quite all right.  That is Buddha.

-Shunryu Suzuki

Yes!

So the secret is just to say ‘Yes!’ and jump off from here.

Then there is no problem.

It means to be yourself in the present moment, always yourself, without sticking to an old self.

You forget all about yourself and are refreshed.

You are a new self, and before that self becomes an old self, you say ‘Yes!’ and you walk to the kitchen for breakfast.

So the point of each moment is to forget the point and extend your practice.

Shunryu Suzuki

Poets On The Peaks

I’m reading this great book about Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Jack Kerouac, and with mentions of Allen Ginsberg, about their time spent on fire lookouts in the North Cascades of the USA.  It’s quite neat to read the real-life stories of these folks that are given new names in Jack Kerouac’s book The Dharma Bums – which is a most excellent read as well.

The 1950’s beat Buddhism generation were ahead of their time – beating the hippies of the 60’s and 70’s to the punch.  These folks fell in love with the Diamond Sutra (aka Diamond Cutter) and carried those old copies of Goddard and Suzuki around with them at all times.

Probably the most important thing about these people, at least to me, revealed through this aforementioned work, is how in order to write poetry and books, they used real life events applied to their craft.  They ate peyote, took Benzadrine and drank copious amounts of alcohol before sitting down in their chairs to write.  At one point, while Jack was up there on Desolation fire lookout, he came face to face with something other than what he was expecting; Jack was hoping to come face to face with God, Buddha or some Source while isolated and alone up there on the mountain – instead he came face to face with himself.

While I don’t engage in any consumption of drugs or alcohol, I am still able to gain insight into these people’s lives.  This work shows these revered poets and authors in true light: as human beings on a personal path of struggle and how some of the made it out the other end, and some of them died trying.  After all, I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle such harsh criticism from Alan Watts on my book and would have drank myself into the depths of hell just as Jack did (and wrote about in Big Sur).

But in my heart of hearts, these men will remain for what they were: extraordinary because there were so ordinary.  May their works live on forever.

CTK

Who were you before you were born?

It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream.

When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream.

It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.

-Hagakure

The Addictive Type; Noah Levine

Prayer and meditation quickly became a more integral part of my life.  They were helping me make sense of everything.  I was beginning to find some sense of purpose in my life.

Being an addictive type, when I find something that makes me feel good I want to do it all the time, so I did, I turned my life toward recovery and spiritual practice.

I had tried everything else.  Drugs hadn’t worked, material accumulation hadn’t worked, violence certainly hadn’t worked, and the negative attention ego trip of graffiti, gangs, and lawlessness had just almost gotten me locked up again.

I knew this spiritual practice shit was the last hope for me.

– Dharma Punx by Noah Levine, Pg. 84

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What kind are you?

A patient of mine recently asked me, “What kind of Buddhist are you?”

Now, I don’t really like getting into religious or philosophical thought .  It’s almost like bringing up religion or politics at the barber – you just might get your ear lopped off.

But he’s young and I sensed from him that this wouldn’t turn south – and I wouldn’t let it.  Plus, he’s been coming to me for years.

“I’m not Buddhist,” I replied.

“Oh.  I thought you were.  You have a Buddha by your front door.”

“That thing?  I bought that at Winners.  It’s a garden ornament that I use for decoration.  Why do you ask?”

“I started a meditation group called (incomprehensible),” he told me.  “So, if you’re not Buddhist, what are you?”

“Well,” I tentatively replied, “if you wanted to call me anything, you could say that I’m Taoist.  But not really…  I like Sufi poetry, parts of Hinduism, too.  I listen to Kirtan and Buddhist chanting.  I read parts of the Bible.”

“Ultimately,” I left him with this final thought, “I’m just a human being.”

CTK

Buddha…

The Life of Buddha (courtesy of Sat Pow);