The last thing anyone needs is another commentary on the state of politics in the USA today. Especially in the context of Zen. Those of us who hold it dear (Zen, not politics) do not want it besmirched with the mudslinging of realpolitik. Every fiber of my being screams, "Don't go there!" So I beg your indulgence and ask you to read this with an open mind.

Maxine CartoonI would like to offer a different perspective on the passing pageantry of politics than you might expect, however; one that may seem naïve on its surface, or even counterintuitive. From the perspective of Zen, it seems to me that the prescribed attitude in the face of the onslaught of the campaign—or a Zen definition of sanity—would be defined as apolitical. That is, instead of getting caught up in the hysteria that is our political system today, and taking sides, we might instead take a backward step, and see it for what it truly is. Which, ironically, our current candidate(s)—take your pick—is/are making excruciatingly clear.

The conventional, usually dismissive view of anyone taking an apolitical stance is implied in the definition provided by the New Oxford American Dictionary bundled on my laptop: "not interested or involved in politics: a former apolitical housewife." That being apolitical would be typical only of someone like a housewife, conjures an image from 1950s television, with the happy housewife blithely gadding about the home in her apron, blissfully unaware of anything outside the front door—from which her husband bravely sallies forth and returns each day, dealing with bringing home the bacon—including the vagaries of such realities of the politics of the day, better left to the judgment of men. The vestiges of the fight for women's suffrage, it seems, are still with us, lurking in the hidden corners of the language itself.
Read more: ZEN AND POLITICS

WHAT IS A FATHER?

As Father's Day approaches, we anticipate our annual Precepts Retreat and the sixth annual conference of the Silent Thunder Order (STO) July 16th, 2016. Beginning with Wednesday the 13th arrival and orientation, you are invited to attend the retreat, for any part or all of it (our way of celebrating the one and the many). This time of year we remember our fathers, probably because Mother's Day was invented first, and then someone said, Oh yeah, maybe we should have one for fathers, too.

I have been fortunate to have what I would call strong relationships with both my biological father, and that person whom we in Zen often refer to as our "dharma father," our root teacher. Of course, we have many teachers in Zen, just as we have many mentors in our lives, some of whom function as father figures to us, in various ways.

Then, as our lives move on, we find ourselves in similar relationships to younger people, including our own children. Buddha is said to have come to regard all people as his children, and not in some condescending manner.

The problem with being a father is that it usually begins at too young an age for us to have the wisdom that we gain in hindsight. And with young children, some of the damage done by failed relationships is not recoverable, much like data files on a crashed hard drive. We cannot necessarily fix everything that has been broken, and time does not heal all wounds. Relationships, especially biological ones, are exceedingly complex. Frankly, I have not had the kind of relationships I would prefer, to my own biological children, a son and daughter from my first marriage. But they are better now than they once were, and improving.
Read more: What is a Father - July Dharma Byte

Transmission of Truth — from the Trivial to the Transcendental

Please pardon my indulging in a discourse, some might say a rant, on the precision of language. Or, rather, the presumptions we make in regard to verbal concepts we use every day. And the potential light that closer examination may shed upon your Zen perspective.

It occurs to me that language itself holds clues to Buddhist truths, especially those usages that go largely unexamined, standing as cultural memes, customs, or precepts, so to speak. That we speak of such inherited notions as a "manner of speaking," as does Buddha, in explaining his teaching, betrays the fact that we intuitively regard attempts to reduce reality to words as inherently futile, if not entirely fatuous.

This intuition—not to dignify it as insight—has come to me often, most recently while "making the bed," specifically a single sized guest bed, originally our granddaughter's. The cover sheet is a flower print, matching the rest of the bedding set, one side being the "front," the other side being, well, the "back." When spreading it over the fitted sheet, ordinarily one would make sure that the front side (with the best rendering of the print) would face down, so that when one turns back the cover to welcome a guest, or oneself, into the warm embrace of the bed sheets, the "good" side would be revealed.
Read more: Do You Mind? It Doesn't Matter

More Articles ...

  1. DharmaByte February 2016
  2. January 2016 DharmaByte
  3. December 2015 Dharma Byte & Japan Journal 4
  4. November 2015 Dharma Byte

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