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INSIDE DHARMA The Buddhist Newsletter Serving the Inmate and Ex-offender Sangha "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together." -- Lilla Watson, Aboriginal activist Volume X , Issue II Peace Be Still By Robert Boettcher SLCJC-St. Louis I write as a metta sort of mantra to myself. My posture is stable where I sit with my back straight. Relaxed, not rigid, my chin slightly tucked. I softly smile. My legs are crossed in the lotus position, but my right knee sticks up higher that the other because in my old age I’m just not as limber as I once was. So, I sit as so. This is called a Zazen session or common meditation to most folks. I try to do this at a set time every day, several times a day. Some say, for the best effect, you need a quiet dimly lit place with cushions to sit on and air-conditioning to do this right. Well I can do just fine sitting upright on a concrete floor with my back to a brick wall. As I close my eyes I tune out any noise. I try to think of your back as a stack of coins with your head balanced on top as if suspended by a string from the ceiling. Shoulders relaxed I rest my hands on my knees or thighs, my thumbs gently touching one another, fingers cupped in my lap. The important thing is not to have any tension at all, totally relaxed. Breath, deeply, slowly…2…3, quietly with no sound or movement, try not to count or talk. Silently concentrate on breath. There may be many distractions of all sorts, but gently return to breath. You may need to adjust posture from time to time for comfort or for falling over. We need to stay as still as we can without itching or scratching. Stillness of the body, Stillness of the mind. Control your body and emotions by using your mind. Think of the vast sky above. Wipe away any clouds of distraction. Maintain a calm relaxed posture, with my mind as clear and quiet as possible. Focus on the sensation of breath. Abolish any emotions, softly smile. I practice this each day even if for only a few minutes, remember to smile. Let anything and everything go temporarily forget and forgive everyone and just quietly clear the mind of anything and everything except for the soft sincere smile. Please, Peace be still. Namaste MAR - APR 2012 Speech Practice By Noah Toler NECC Bowling Green Mo. Recently couple of fellow inmates pointed out that I deal with people differently. So I spent some time considering what guides my actions when interacting with others. First, listen to, view and understand the other through compassion. Second, do not try to change people. It seems to me that the more we allow dharma to inform our practice, we develop skillful means to affect the Buddha’s teaching in daily life. For starters, compassion is not the same as pity. Pity is a judgment of the discriminating mind as to some perceived defect in a person or situation. Compassion is the knowing of unconditional love for all beings as fellow sufferers. Pity looks down, compassion looks our fellow in the eye and says, “I know you, I am you”. Our practices are born of the Buddha’s premise that there is an end to suffering. How can there be an end of anything we do not recognize? One of the fruits of practice is being able to recognize our own suffering, then, to recognize the suffering of all beings. This recognition allows us a knowing practice. Through informed interactions, our meetings are not just chaotic clashes of atomistic individuals. In such a way we develop a vigorous living practice in the here and now. Without practice, dharma remains an intellectual activity or the contemplation of philosophers. Compassion knows the here and now. It is an activity of the fully engaged present. The suffering of ourselves and others is present in the moment of our engagement. In compassion, presently, we are able to engage others in ways that are not only not harmful but we develop awareness for the possibility to be of benefit. (To be deliberate and present when I interact with others requires effort.) The desire to change others has many motivators. Some want to save souls; some want to save society; some want us to be more moral, more Godly; and some want to set us free. However practice informs us that the prime mover is preferences (delusion, greed and anger). In general the desire to change others is to impose on people and situations, our preferences and perceptions. It is a Without practice, dharma remains an intellectual activity or the contemplation of philosophers. Compassion knows the here and now. refusal to see things as is, but only to view through tinted glasses of oughtness; i.e. to say, “that/they ought to be…” or “Well, such and such shouldn’t be…” Between is and ought tension (suffering) arises. This suffering then produces harmful interactions such as the desire to change, which will not end suffering but water it. It is true that some, as a matter of practice, make the commitment to work for the liberation of all sentient beings. This is not a desire to change people. This is a practice commitment, born of compassion, to develop skillful means for interacting with the universe (or being present in reality). So, rather than being focused on others, it is on self, it is on the Three Pure Precepts: Do no harm, Be of benefit,, Purify the mind (or as a friend recently put it to me: purify your body, speech and mind-speak, act and learn to think in ways that make you and the world more peaceful). In sum, a significant aspect of out practice is developing skillful means of interacting with reality. In dealing with others, we can develop the means of compassion and acceptance. This way we are contributing to the liberation of all sentient beings, including ourselves. Fear Of A Buddhist Book By Z.L. King HCC, Galesburg IL I was blessed with a copy of a great and noble book Guide To A Bodhisattva’s Way Of Life By Shantideva I kept putting off the reading of this book Because of my fear For 12 years I have been reading excerpts From Guide To A Bodhisattva’s Way Of Life So I knew this book held gems for me Yet I did not read it because of my fear Fear that the book would cause me to change And begin to love people Today I finally finished reading Guide To A Bodhisattva’s Way Of Life Yes this book has caused me to change And become more like the Buddha and Bodhisattvas Dharma Transmission and Lineage Dear friends, Rev. Kalen McCalister, co-founder of Inside Dharma and head of the Shinzo Zen Meditation Center in St. Louis Is about to undergo the ceremony of Dharma Transmission. I have to admit that I was unaware of what this was. So I did some investigating and found the following description which was most illuminating. Once she receives Dharma Transmission she will go to Japan and sit at the head of several Monasteries in her lineage. Hopefully we will be able to get her to write about the experience when it’s completed. We wish her all the best on this incredible journey. Dom - Inside Dharma Editor While most of the world's great religions rely on the sanctity of words to convey the Truth of their religious doctrines, moral codes, etc., Zen Buddhism makes no such claim as it has no such written document or collection of documents. Instead, Zen Buddhism relies on the concept of Dharma Transmission to "preserve" the teachings of the Buddha. We conceive that the nature of Ultimate Reality is received by us as a "transmission" -- a transmission with no relevance to written or spoken language -- and that this Ultimate Reality is identical to the Mind of the Buddha. Dharma Transmission can be a difficult concept to grapple with, especially as our entire lives revolve around language. We think with language, speak with language, and write with language -- basically, there's no way to escape language. Yet here is a religious sect that says there's no other way - we've got to put our thoughts aside entirely if we are to find our True Nature. We Buddhists consider the thinking mind to be a sense organ, on par with our senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and our tactile sense. The senses do not define us; they are merely an aspect of our impermanent physical nature, temporary and always in flux. It is our True Self alone - our Buddha Nature that is absolute, unchanging and infinite: to know this on a deeply intuitive level is to be enlightened. How does Dharma Transmission happen? There are several interpretations. According to the few passeddown teachings we have from our dear friend, Shakyamuni Buddha, it happens through following the Eightfold Path which culminates in deep reflection and meditation. If we do the work, he said, enlightenment would follow: the essence of his teachings would be complete. In this sense Dharma Transmission is an unfolding of the realization of Reality that takes place as we delve into the nature of our lives in a very deep way. When we enter the actual state of meditation our egoself disappears -our sense of personal identity vanishes. When we have experiences that lead to new awareness’s in this state, they seem to come "from out there somewhere". They are not from us, because we our sense of personal self -don't exist. The term "transmitted" seems perfectly natural to us. Where these realizations and experiences come from, we can't say. In another way, the concept of Dharma Transmission has taken on other functions in the history of Buddhism - of maintaining a familial lineage to our founder, Mahayogi Gautama Siddhartha of the Shakya clan, of maintaining a hierarchical structure in 2 temples and monasteries, and of empowering disciples to teach through the recognition of One Mind. These alternate uses of the terminology can still serve a practical purpose but should be considered separately from the spiritual essence of Dharma Transmission that happens through spiritual labor. Maintaining Lineage A follower of the Buddha Way may ask, how do we know if we have received the true Dharma? The true teachings of the Buddha? As we discussed, one way is by following the Buddha's Eightfold Path and experiencing enlightenment for ourselves. But another, and often more popular way in the history of Buddhism, is for our master or teacher to "transmit" the Dharma to us. The Dharma might also be transmitted to us during an ordination or other ceremony. All of these approaches appear to have been employed at various times in the past. These approaches have created, through the course of history, a complex intertwined web of connections that can easily be traced back to our founder. Empowering Disciples to Teach There are numerous instances in history when a student ripe for teaching needs a strong prod. He may shy away for feeling unqualified, unable, or unsure of him- or herself. She may actively avoid seeking clerical roles in a congregation. Yet such people may be the exact people who need to be guiding others because of their level of understanding, their compassion, and their humility. In such cases the Master/Dharma teacher may (and this often happens in private) "bestow" Dharma Transmission - a mutual recognition of One Mind -- upon the devotee as a way of letting him or her know that he recognizes her spiritual achievement and believes in her ability to protect and spread the Buddha Dharma. It is not something the devotee waves like a flag in selfaggrandizement to enlist awe from others or to gain congregants. The history of Buddhist lineage, tied together with Dharma transmission, offers from a sociological and anthropological point of view a fascinating look into how societies and cultures can adapt to change despite tremendous obstacles. Buddhism has changed with the tides over the centuries by adapting or altering meanings of terminologies and, while this has sometimes posed significant problems for Buddhist institutions, it speaks to the adaptability of human nature and mankind's unfaltering quest for deeper understanding of himself. Dharma transmission is as valid today as it was a thousand years ago because of our need to feel the living pulse of Zen in our lives - on an unconscious level we recognize that we are a unitary whole, timeless and spaceless, as completely integrated with the Buddha's own life as with our own. And if we look deeper still, we find we are just as much a part of all the teachers that guided Siddhartha and of those that guided them, ad infinitum. The Dragon’s Pearl - A Fable Written by Rev. Shoken Winecoff Abbot of Ryumonji Zen Monastery Once upon a time there was a friendly dragon named Gulliver. Gulliver lived in the deep ocean. He spent most of his time playing around the surface. You could see him splash up and down once in a while if you were watching for him. Some people thought he was rather mysterious. One day he encountered an old man in a fishing boat. The old man was not afraid of Gulliver, even though Gulliver had a ferocious looking face and a breath that would knock your socks off. On that day, the old man in the fishing boat told Gulliver that there was a precious pearl at the bottom of the ocean. Gulliver had never gone down that deep into the ocean before. So Gulliver decided that he would dive down and venture deep to look for the precious pearl. When he got to the bottom of the ocean it was dark down there. But he found that there were many hundreds and thousands and millions of pearls all over the ocean floor. So Gulliver with a swoosh and a swirl scooped up in his jaws one of the precious pearls, and came back up to the surface. He found the old man in the fishing boat again and said, “You told me there was one precious pearl, but they are everywhere”. The old man said, “Yes… every moment is a precious pearl! And there are hundreds and thousands and millions of precious moments in a life!” Gulliver scratched his head and let out a sigh, “Every moment is a precious pearl?” What does that mean? The old man said, “Well, every moment contains all the moments of the past, and influences all the moments of the future!” So Gulliver had a light bulb go off in his head and said, “Oh, I get it! Every 3 moment is very precious!” And the old man said, “Yes, and we should handle each moment with utmost care, like taking care of a precious jewel.” Then Gulliver said, “Well, what about when the ocean gets scary and big waves rise up and crash down?” The old man said, “Even these can be precious moments. When a little dragon passes through these waves this is the dragon gate. It’s the place when a young dragon becomes a great creature!” Gulliver looked deeply into the eyes of the old man. His face looked wrinkly and his eyes looked tired. Gulliver said, “You are an old man. You will die soon. How can this be a precious moment?” The old man smiled and said, “Yes, but it is truly a precious moment for my descendants. When others see that I am gone they may be sad, but they will rise up and take my place and this will be a great treasure for many beings.” Gulliver swam home that night. When he climbed into bed he let go of the precious pearl that he was holding onto so tightly. Gulliver knew that every moment is a precious pearl, even the moments that sometimes crash down on you. He pulled the covers up around his ears and said a little prayer of thanksgiving for all his precious moments. And then yawned and said, “Happy Thanksgiving” to all the other creatures of the sea. is obvious that a belief in God or even religion is not a prerequisite for being a good person. If that is the case, then the question becomes, "what makes a good person, good?" From the Buddhist perspective basic goodness is our fundamental nature. We don't have to join any particular religion or group to manifest it. Tenderness of heart, fearlessness and intelligence are basic to who we are regardless of our religion. Many people and religions believe that this fundamental quality is separate from ourselves. They believe goodness comes from some external divine source. However the truth is that these qualities are available to us in every moment. In Buddhism this fundamental quality is called "Buddha-nature." Buddha-nature is our potential for enlightenment. It is our birthright regardless of our religion. As difficult as it is to believe even people who commit the most unspeakable atrocities possess this basic goodness. There is something they care about. There is some chink in their external armor. So there is hope for everyone. Those who act in less than enlightened ways, or harm others do so out of ignorance and because of the clinging, grasping nature of their mind. Through meditation we can begin to let go of ego clinging attachment and get in touch with our fundamental basic goodness. What A Little Mail Can Do By Julius Davis Jr. FCC Farmington, Mo. My name is Julius Davis Jr.; I am an inmate at the south central correctional center. Dear friends and readers, it has been hard for me being in prison and in a state I have no family or friends in. My home is in Chicago. It’s where I have lived all my life until I came to Missouri and got myself into some trouble I could not get out of. It seems as things got worse, I lost my house, my cars, and my wife died then my grandmother and mother died. At my mothers funeral my father had an heart attack and it didn’t seem as though he would make it either. I hated my life I hated prison I hated the world. I didn’t want live anymore and Monthly Buddhist Column Dear Dharma Friends: Below is a copy of my monthly Buddhist column. This column will appear in the Kansas City Star newspaper on Saturday, Lama Chuck Stanford (Lama Changchup Konchok Dorje) Rime Buddhist Center Question: "How is it that many people who don't believe in God lead just as good lives as many who do?" Answer: All of us know "good" people who don't believe in God or who are not religious. Therefore, it I gave up. All I wanted to do was die. Then one day when I was in segregation at Farmington Correctional 4 center, a woman by the name of Kalen, she was the chaplain there and came to see me. She had heard that my mother had just passed away. Kalen tried to talk to me to comfort me and ease the pain I was going through. We talked for awhile and when she left I felt better, but I had plan to take my life a days later, I had nothing left but pain sadness and hate! Hate is a powerful emotion. It takes so much energy out of you. To hate, it’s like drawing the lifer that’s in you out until you are just a dried up prune. Well that’s how I felt. The night I planned my suicide is a day Ill never forget. An officer came to my cell door and told me I had mail and as he passed the mail under my door I saw over 20 letters and cards. I could not believe I had that much mail, not at one time. As I sat down and opened the mail I was in shock to receive so much love from people I didn’t know or who didn’t know me! But I felt their love and it moved me deeply. I cried and I knew that I could not give up. I knew I had to stop hating. The brothers and sisters at Inside Dharma and the Rime Center opened my eyes again with their love and concern. I am forever in the debt of them all. Life is what we make it, as Lama Chuck Stanford once told me. Nothing last forever, not even bad times. They too will pass. I look at things differently now and realize hate can be replaced with love and joy. Thank you Kalen and Inside Dharma, take a bow, you deserve it! I can’t say in words how much Inside Dharma and the Rime Center has changed and affected my life, prayers and meditation. It’s so wonderful and I am at peace. I send lots of prayers and wish you all well, much success, health, happiness, peace, insight and blessings of the Triple Gem. I love you all former teachers?” The tenzo burst out laughing and remarked, “My good friend from abroad! You do not yet understand what practice is about, nor do you know the meaning of the characters (written teachings).” Dogen was taken aback and asked, “What are the characters and what is practice?” The tenzo replied, “If you do not deceive yourself about this problem you will be a man of the Way,” and left carrying his mushrooms. A couple months later the tenzo, now having completed his one year assignment as head cook, heard that Dogen was at Mount Tiantong and went there to visit him. After exchanging pleasantries, Dogen again asked the tenzo, “What are characters?” “One, two, three, four, five,” he replied. “What is practice?” “There is nothing in the world that is hidden.” Dogen commented many years later when he was recording this story, that “whatever little bit I have learned about characters and practice is largely due to that tenzo.” When the tenzo said, “one, two, three, four, five,” he meant “everything,” that everything around us is our teaching, and when he said, “nothing in the world is hidden,” he meant our practice is right here in front of us, if we have the eyes to see it. The tenzo actually exchanged few words with Dogen about “characters” and “practice.” It was the actions of the tenzo, his whole-heartedness and commitment that spoke most loudly. The tenzo’s practice was not separate from his work as chief cook, as if the cooking were a necessary distraction from sitting meditation and formal study. The tenzo in the kitchen, taking care of his tasks, was right in the middle of his practice where “nothing in the world is hidden.” TEACHINGS FROM THE COOK By Will Holcomb Shinzo Zen Meditation Center, St. Louis, MO Recently we’ve been studying Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook with commentary by Uchiyama. Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, went to China in 1223 in search or more authentic Buddhist teachings. One of the first people he met there, even before he was allowed to leave the ship, was the tenzo (chief cook) from the monastery at Mount Ayuwang, who came onto the ship to buy mushrooms from the Japanese merchants. Dogen struck up a conversation with him learning that he was 61 years of age and had walked 14 miles that afternoon from the monastery to make his purchase so he could prepare a special meal for the monks and staff celebrating the beginning of spring. Furthermore, once he obtained the mushrooms he was intending to walk back so he could oversee preparations for the next day’s meal. Dogen was amazed at the tenzo’s effort and asked, “But why, when you are so old, do you do the hard work of a tenzo? Why do you not spend your time practicing zazen (sitting meditation) or working on koans (lessons) of 5 Editor’s Notes Dom Lupo Dear Friends; Due to condition beyond our control Inside Dharma is having to discontinue its pen pal program. In an effort to ensure this doesn’t cause any undue hardship, we have contacted and made arrangement the following organizations to handle our pen pal requests. You can contact these organizations directly. Always With Compassion, Inside Dharma Prison Outreach Program San Francisco Zen Center 300 Page Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Prison Outreach Program Austin Zen Center 3014 Washington Square Austin, TX 78705 Also I need to ask a great favor of our readers. Please if your address changes for any reason please let us know as soon as possible. We are a completely volunteer staff that relies on donations to keep things up and running. Even the smallest savings can increase what we can do. If a newsletter is returned it cost us double to try and get to where it needs to go. Our newsletter is available to anyone, but if you not incarcerated there is a $12.00 a year subscription rate. It is always free to the incarcerated and the newly released. But we can always use your help, any donations to our ability to keep Inside Dharma going is always greatly appreciated. We send out over 600 newsletters going into every state, and I like to think that the newsletter is a vital tool for the incarcerated trying to maintain a practice; it was for me for while I was in. This brings me to another point. Where are you all? I’ve said many times that this newsletter is for you and it needs you. It needs your thought, experiences and questions. The newsletter is here to serve your needs but we here at Inside Dharma need to know what those needs are. Tell us what its like to practice inside? What do you think about Buddhism being a way of dealing your situation? What question about practicing might you have? What I’m saying is, get involved with your Sangha. There are 600 of you and I’m sure that there are more than 10 of you that have something to say. OK, now about our next issue. I recently was at a Dharma talk where the issue of “respect” was discussed. What is respect and how does it affect your practice and life. Does it bring peace or violence? There’s lot to think about with this one. Please have your submissions in by April 14, 2012 to make it into the next issue. The deepest bow to all of you. Dom, Inside Dharma Editor ??? Questions From Readers ??? Q. Why are there so many traditions or schools of Buddhism and what tradition or religion did the Buddha practice as he was growing up? A. By Carol Cory In the 2500 years since the Buddha lived, his followers have implemented a variety of teachings which have always been characterized by three general aims: (1) to wake up from delusions about the nature of this world we live in, delusions which create craving and clinging and result in suffering, (2) to develop calmer and more peaceful lives; (3) to become wise and compassionate people. Buddhism has evolved into myriad schools that can be roughly grouped into three types: Nikaya (Theravada/Vipassana), Mahayana (Chinese and Japanese Zen), and Vajrayana (Tibetan). Within these groups there are many branches and offshoots. The Buddha lived in northern India, and within a few months of his death a council was held which assigned his teachings to his immediate disciples who were instructed to commit his words to memory. By the time the teachings (sutras) were written down, they numbered in the thousands of pages. Buddhist teachings spread first to China, then to other Asian countries, such as Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan. The basic teachings remained constant, but tended to take on the outward manifestations and traditions of the particular culture or country where they appeared. Buddhist teachings are now becoming popular in the United States and Europe. Since we are right in the middle of this process, it’s not clear what form and rituals will eventually take hold. One hundred years from now will there be an American Buddhism? Does it already exist? Siddhartha Gautama was born into a Hindu family of the ruling class in the 6th century C.E. He 6 lived in northern India where the dominant religion was Hinduism. Ancient Buddhist texts record slightly different versions of his life story and how he became a Buddha. The word means awakened, and after leaving his father’s palace and undergoing six years of intense searching and extreme ascetic practices, he finally broke through the illusions of his own mind and experienced the true nature of reality. He achieved enlightenment and became a "Buddha" - an enlightened one, and spent the rest of his life attempting to teach others what he realized that day under the Bodhi tree. Q. Why do Buddhist help others, isn't it judging someone? What is the best way to help someone? A. By Rev. Kalen McCalister When you sit down and do Zazen, you realize that you are not defined by (what my first teacher called) "a smelly skin bag", but that we are all interdependent. The whole world is interdependent. We cannot live without air, water, food, love, nurturing, etc. So if you remove that line that we commonly define as "you" and "me", we are all of one system. To do a kindness towards another is to do a kindness towards oneself. It is a respect and love of all that surrounds you. As we become aware of this moment, we begin to know the best way to be that which helps all. At the top of our newsletter we quote Aboriginal activist, Lilla Watson, "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together." I would go one step further and eliminate "your" and "my" liberation and just say liberation. Q. Why is it that predominately Buddhist societies have similar characteristics of crime, poverty and disease as other societies? Is everyone born corrupt and subject to reincarnation in order to achieve nirvana? individual, and when they begin to interact with each other, personal styles and preferences quickly emerge. Each human on the planet is the manifestation of causes and conditions, and the Buddha’s primary project was to show (us) how to be free of greed, hatred, and delusion, also known as the thee poisons, which seem to be present to a greater or lesser extent in everyone. Predominately Buddhist societies are made up of individuals who are all Each human on the planet is the manifestation of causes and conditions, and the Buddha’s primary project was to show (us) how to be free of greed, hatred, and delusion subject to the laws of birth and death. There may be Buddhist temples and institutions based on the Buddha’s teachings, but if people don’t apply them to their lives, the cycles and patterns continue. Just as in so-called Christian nations, many people do not follow the actual original teachings of Jesus. It’s also useful to keep in mind that, sadly, religion can be corrupted and used as a method of intimidation and repression. The liberation that the Buddha experienced and then taught to others is an inside job. It cannot be mandated or imposed by the leaders of society or any other authority figure. There is no evidence that the Buddha taught that we are born corrupt and are subject to reincarnation. The concept of reincarnation was prevalent in India at the time, but his focus was to show that suffering comes from clinging to what we think will bring happiness and rejecting the parts of our lives that we don’t like, as well as providing a path to the ending of suffering. Nirvana is sometimes defined as a cooling off, an unbinding of the mind from defilements and the mental states of sensuality, wrong views, and ignorance about the nature of Each human on the planet is our human condition. the manifestation of causes Re-incarnation is an important teaching in and conditions, and the the Tibetan tradition Buddha’s primary project was of Buddhism, but this to show (us) how to be free of is not the emphasis in greed, hatred, and delusion Theravadan and Zen schools. Sometimes there is an encouragement to treat each moment as a new birth. As always we encourage your question, comments and contributions SEND your letters to: Letters to the Editor Inside Dharma P.O. Box 220721 Kirkwood, Mo. 63122 A. By Will Holcomb If you walk into a classroom of fifty young children, it would be easy to observe that each one is a unique 7 Inside Dharma P.O. Box 220721 Kirkwood, Missouri 63122 NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID ST. LOUIS MO PERMIT NO. 1129 Return Service Requested This issue is dedicated to Thubten Chodron Who is always loving and giving... 8