I am so grateful to the Sangha for the generosity and compassion you have shown each other during this difficult time. The daily zazen periods and our Sunday gathering have been excellent examples of giving, not only by the presiders, but also by the participants. By practicing together, we thank each other for sharing our practice.
In this spirit of generosity, I would like us to explore the first Paramita together: Dana Paramita. Dana is a beautiful word, it means generosity, generosity of mind and generosity of spirit. But how can we practice generosity of mind and spirit just by sitting together? What are we giving?
The teaching, the Dharma, tells us that there are four gifts we can give. We can give material support, we can give protection, we can give the Dharma as teachings, and, most importantly and most subtly, we can give the gift of non-fear. The wisdom of no hindrance.
Dana, the mind and spirit of generosity, is linked to the qualities of lovingkindness and compassion. There is a wonderful gift which arises when we practice lovingkindness and compassion. At first, there is separation. We are the giver, and we are giving to someone. But, in the actual giving, the separation falls away. This is non-duality. Dana, lovingkindness and compassion, are present. But there is no longer a giver and a receiver.
When you set up a plan and a schedule, your life can flourish and when you don’t set up a plan, all of your good intentions can come to naught. This is basic logic and why many of us are creating schedules and organizing our lives. But is all this planning and organizing really productive or is it merely an elaborate devised displacement activity that keeps us from directly experiencing.
The planning is framework to help us get from point A to point B but is there really anywhere to get. It is in the doing and in the scheduling that our lives manifest. It is in the scheduling that the doing is born and it is in the doing that the scheduling is remembered. The scheduling and the doing are not separate, they are one and merged in each other in the doing.
It is important to understand that we must merge our entire being with the doing and thus remove the separation between the external organizing principles and the direct experience of the activities those principles represent. When the scheduling and the doing are truly merged, we flow with the direction of our lives. That is why we must view our planning activities as the unborn manifestation of an unknown, unexperienced doing. Where the scheduling and the doing are a merged activity despite any temporal dislocations.
Here are 4 simple mediditations you can use as part of you daily practice of appreciation and acceptance:
Stay Enthuastic – Remember your WHY today. We don’t get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it. Focus on your purpose and stay flexible and creative.
Be Thankful – When you are grateful for the things in your life, big and small, you always seem to find more things to be grateful about.
Replace “Have to” with “Get To” – Live life as a gift, not an obligation. We GET TO, we don’t HAVE TO. This simple shift can have a dramatic impact.
Be a Blessing to Others – We are blessed to be a blessing. This doesn’t have anything to do with material things (although it can). It’s about loving, serving and caring. It’s about choosing to make a difference in the lives of others each and every day.
I know this is easier said than done during these difficult times, but with the proper training and focus, we can learn to appreciate our lives in all circumstances.
Once a year I watch this video for inspiration. Not as much for the military aspect as an example of how to overcome obstacles in life. Look past the agression and you will see young men embracing not-knowing on a moment by moment basis and expressing what arises authentically. This is the closest any modern military training method has approached the Bushido Code of the Samuari. There is Zen here, can you find it?
The correct position…is not to take hold of any opinions or views, but to try to see things objectively as they are without any mental projections, to see that what we call “I” or “BEING”, is only a combination of physical and mental aggregates, which are working together independently in a flux of momentary change within the law of cause and effect, and that there is nothing permanent, everlasting, unchanging and eternal in the whole of existence.
This is an outstanding movie regarding Zen and Zen Practice. The majority of the movie takes place during the Rohatsu Sesshin at the Rinzai Shogen-ji temple in central Japan. Video quality is so…so, but the content is well worth the time.
A sesshin, literally “touching the heart-mind”, is a period of intensive meditation (zazen) in a Zen monastery. While the daily routine in the monastery requires the monks to meditate several hours a day, during a sesshin they devote themselves almost exclusively to zazen practice. The numerous 30- to 50-minute-long meditation periods are interleaved with short rest breaks, meals, and sometimes short periods of work (samu) all performed with the same mindfulness; nightly sleep is kept to a minimum, at six hours or fewer. During the sesshin period, the meditation practice is occasionally interrupted by the master giving public talks (teisho) and individual direction in private meetings (which may be called dokusan, daisan, or sanzen) with a Zen Master.
In modern Buddhist practice in Japan and the West, sesshins are often attended by lay students, and are typically one, three, five, or seven days in length. Seven-day sesshins are held several times a year at many Zen centers, especially in commemoration of the Buddha’s awakening to full enlightenment (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi). At this Rohatsu sesshin, practitioners seek to relax and quiet the mind to the point of cessation of mental chatter and emotional impulse, samadhi, kensho, or satori.
When you start meditating, find a space that is quite with muted light where you will not be disturbed during your session. Place a cushion or rug on the floor and then a sitting cushion on top of that. Create a sacred space for yourself if possible. There are many ways to sit during meditation. The most advanced way is sitting in the full-lotus posture. You put the foot of the right leg upon the left thigh and the foot of the left leg on right thigh. The biggest advantage of this way of sitting is that it guarantees the utmost stability with the both knees directly touching the ground, so that a broad, solid foundation is created. If the upper body is fixed this way, bodily movements are controlled, and thoughts are more effectively made quiet.
If this way of sitting is too difficult on account of the pain in the legs, you should try the half-lotus posture. Put the foot of the left leg over the right thigh. But if you are not used to crossing your legs when you sit, even the half-lotus can be difficult. Your knees may not equally touch the cushion, and you may experience pain. If this is the case, you can put a small cushion under each knee to alleviate the stress. In either the full-lotus or the half-lotus position, you may reverse the upper foot if the legs become too tired.
If you find the lotus-sitting too painful, a different suggestion would be to put one leg underneath the thigh of the other leg, which now simply lies in front of you on the mat. This is called the Burmese posture (this is the position I use). A still different way would be to use the traditional Japanese sitting posture with the buttocks on the heels and calves or you could use a small bench to sit on while you fold your legs under the bench. If any of these methods do not work, you could always use a chair. The most important point is that you keep your back erect and upright and your posture is comfortable so as not to become a distraction.
Other Considerations
A simple hand position to use during meditation is called the Cosmic Mudra. Put your right hand in your lap, palm upward, and place the left hand, again palm upward, on top of the right palm. The hands should not be far from your body but remain close to your abdomen. You can always switch had positions if that is more comfortable. Try to touch the tips of the thumbs to each other so that the palms and thumbs form an oval or a “chestnut” placed upside down. The thumbs and their nails should always be pointed upward.
Once the formal posture is correct, take a deep breath, hold it so for a moment, then let it quietly out. Do this a couple of times, always using your nose and not your mouth. After that, start breathing naturally and begin the meditation session. Start with a 5 minute session and then increase incrementally as you become more comfortable.
“Counting Breaths” Meditation
You now start with the concentration of your mind. You count both inhalations and exhalations. When you inhale, you count in your mind “one”; when you exhale, you count “two”; when you inhale again, you count “three”, and so forth, until you come up to “ten.” When you reach “ten,” you go back to “one,” counting up once again to “ten.” …. It is so simple – almost disappointingly simple.
How to Deal with Random Thoughts
Floating ideas, coming and going in your mind, are not bad things at all. They do not constitute any real impediment in your practice. Your mind lets various thoughts and images pass through since you are not sleeping. Please notice, however, that all these perceptions or thoughts do not form an obstacle to or lessen the value of your meditation at all – unless you label them “good” or “bad” and try consciously to chase them or to drive them out. This is an important point. If you want to pursue any of the sensations or ideas, then you stick to them. And that is indeed a distraction and your concentration is broken. If you try to expel the perceived objects or ideas, this also constitutes adherence to them, thus impeding your due concentration. Therefore, let all random perceptions and thoughts come up and go as they will. They are like clouds in the sky. Never keep company with them nor try to chase them out. Just keep concentrating upon counting your inhalations and exhalations.
Hello! My name is Alexander Daibō (大波) Biagioli and I began my spiritual journey as a young man practicing in the traditions of the great Christian Mystics. In 2002 I completed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and began sitting Zazen (seated meditation) regularly. In 2011 I met my first Zen Teacher, Roshi Paul Genki Kahn, and began practicing Zen in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
In 2014 joined the Zen Garland Sangha and later received Jukai (Buddhist precepts) from Genki Roshi, receiving the dharma name Daibō. Since 2018, I have been a disciple of Roshi Eran Junryu Vardi and a member of the Eiryu-Ji Sangha also practicing in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
I hold the Master rank of 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwon Do from Grand Master T.H. Kim. Throughout my journey, I have always coupled my spiritual practice with a robust physical embodiment practice. Daibō means Great Wave, and my practice is to try to live harmoniously in the flow of my own name.
