Tiger of Meekness

In the Buddhist tradition, the path of the spiritual warrior is well laid out. It is usually referred to as the path of the Bodhisattva. There are many such teachings in Asian cultures. What are now known as the Shambhala teachings developed by Chogyam Trungpa, were first taught by the great teacher, Tibetan king Gesar of Ling. These teachings are known as the four dignities. 

In a time of uncertainty and confusion, we need these teachings more than ever. These are advanced spiritual teachings. They require that you see through the illusion of ego, that you have the courage to live your life without creating any territory whatsoever. If you are inspired to let go in this way, then these teachings can help deepen and actualize your realization. It goes without saying that appreciating unconditional basic goodness and a steady diet of meditation is foundational. 

We are speaking here of four metaphors for the qualities of the spiritual warrior. These four dignities are the tiger of meekness, the snow lion of discipline, the garuda of outrageousness and the dragon of inscrutability. 

TIGER OF MEEKNESS

Meekness is not a word we often associate with strength, but in fact, the spiritual warrior's strength arises from gentleness, not arrogance. It's about being simple, grounded and embodied. Trungpa lays out three stages in the development of meekness. The first stage is modesty. Modesty here has to do with being simple, without pretense in a way that is completely genuine. The second stage is that of unconditional confidence. The mature tiger moves through the forest easily, with a natural rhythm. She is in no rush. She plants her paws slowly and surely. She is relaxed, yet aware of her surroundings. This ease and embodiment of the tiger is an expression of unconditional confidence. The third stage overcomes any hesitation because one's mind is vast and boundless. Having given up both ambition and any sense of a poverty mentality, the warrior's mind is stable and uplifted. 

DISCERNMENT

The tiger's relaxed awareness allows her to see clearly what to keep and what to avoid. This quality of discernment is critical in developing wisdom. Without discernment, it's not possible to develop skillful behavior. The tiger is not at the mercy of our mass cultural manipulations. She can see what leads to awakening and what does not, and she has the intention and the courage to follow what leads to awakening and let go of negative emotions which embroil one in further turmoil and chaos. The tiger understands that her actions matter. Everything you do is consequential. So she cultivates virtuous actions that lead to awakening and avoids those that lead to suffering. 

EXERTION

Nothing is accomplished on the path of warriorship without great exertion. Exertion creates both stability and joy. While many might exert themselves for the wrong reason, the tiger always exerts herself for the sake of awakening, so she is able to overcome doubt and create a powerful presence. This quality of tenacity allows the tiger to bear witness, remain grounded in working with difficult situations and conflicts. 

Overcoming aggression, desire, and ignorance requires great determination and effort. The tiger is willing to put in the hard work on the meditation cushion to work with herself. The spiritual warrior is brave, not because she conquers and controls others, but because she is willing to face herself. And in this way, the tiger expresses open, genuine presence and tender-heartedness. 

REGRET

The tiger does not linger in regret. She makes full use of her time in service to helping others. Regret is a sign that you have lost your discipline and focus. It leads to confusion and hesitation. One of the most painful things people often express on their death bed is their sense of regret that they didn't do what they could have done while alive. The tiger does not die with this kind of regret. She doesn't worry about her own happiness. By serving others and putting them first, she lives with a more sustainable joy and wholeness. 

Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse

Fractal series

I have always been interested in patterns, because I see them everywhere. So as an artist I often paint them. It’s a way of seeing the wholeness before separating it into things. I recently rediscovered fractal patterns while looking at Jackson Pollock paintings which are chaotic but contain many fractals. We normally think of fractals as mathematical models but they are also every where in nature and I believe it’s one of the primary reasons being in nature is so healing.

One of my teachers, Chogyam Trungpa spoke of the mandala principle characterized by “orderly chaos”. This is a deep teaching in my Buddhist tradition which I have been trying to paint most of my life. This sacred world contains both confusion and clarity, delusion and wakefulness. And fractals reflect these complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are images of dynamic systems constantly dying and being born again.

"The Pattern that Connects" Exhibition at ZLMC

“The Pattern that Connects”
Exhibition at Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago at 38 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL 60302

March 24-April 20, 2019

Artist Statement

A sacred thread weaves a tapestry of blood and bones, skin and hair, wings and feathers, leaves and branches, mountains and rivers. Layer upon layer. Thread upon thread. Strings and holes are always whole and laced together in a web of ever-changing circumstance.

Works in this exhibition are selected from six bodies of work including: The Pattern that Connects, Evolution, Metamorphosis,, Pamsula, 10 Ox-herding Pictures and Seasons of Zen. The larger collection of my other works may be seen on my website at www.althouse-art.com.

I am a painter and my medium is the computer, where I draw using a stylus on a wacom tablet and then print to various surfaces such as paper, canvas, or as in the case for this exhibition, metal. 

~Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse

All proceeds from sales go towards our New Home Fund, to purchase the property for our Zen Center at 46 Lake Street in Oak Park, IL. Should you wish to purchase one of these, I can have it printed on metal and delivered directly to your mailing address.

Continuous Practice

Our country is in a serious crisis. When the world is falling apart all around you, does it help to have a spiritual practice? Do you reserve spiritual activities only for when times are good? If you do, I'd like you to seriously consider what your life might be like if you lived a Zen-inspired life of openness, empathy and clarity in the midst of change and uncertainty. When you are filled with anxiety and unease and your attention is scattered and fragmented, you are more vulnerable to over-reacting by experiencing increased anger, anxiety and fear. Living a Zen-inspired life can help you cope more effectively with these unexpected events. But to live such a life you must practice meditation regularly. It is no small thing to change your lifestyle in this way. But then again, it is no small thing to remain unconditionally present and open, empathically connected to those around you and in service to a higher and larger purpose.

It's a tall order, but the way forward is clear. You must practice continuously, and that means, you've got to meditate. When you mediate regularly you strengthen your hub of awareness. This kind of undivided attention helps you fully engage in whatever you are doing. And this is what I mean by continuous practice. Your meditation practice takes place both on and off the cushion. And you find that this focused, calm and stable awareness makes a significant difference in your daily life.

For instance, if you do things with a distracted mind or in a half-hearted way, you will always leave things undone and unfinished. And this will begin to burden and weigh you down. When you invite fragmentation and chaos into your life, you are more vulnerable to mistakes of judgement or even serious accidents. It's easy to get stuck in your thoughts and emotions. And as you spin off in your head, your thoughts become more busy and complicated.

So continuous practice is really important. You need to find a way to sustain a spiritual journey that can weather the ups and downs of the world around you. When you ground yourself in the regular practice of mindfulness meditation, you begin to create some order out of the chaos. You take small steps that put you in delightful connection with the small and mundane details that make up your daily life.

When you become too preoccupied with your worries it's hard to focus or enjoy your life. So as you deepen your continuous practice you may also begin to glimpse a larger sense of your self taking place. When you treat yourself and others as objects, it seems that you are like a noun. But when you begin to see through the fiction of ego you can appreciate that you are more like a verb and your are connected to everything and everyone.

Eihei Dogen is one of the great teachers of the Soto Zen tradition. There is an often quoted phrase of his from the Genjo Koan which is as follows:

"To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly. "

When your actions are full of preconceived ideas you will leave a trace in whatever you do. In another passage from the Genjo Koan, Dogen says, "Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again." In other words, when you burn yourself up completely in your activities, you leave no trace. This is how you live a Zen-inspired life by continually practicing leaving no trace.

© 2011, Roshi Robert Althouse

5 Ways to Listen Well

Listening well is an art, but it can also improved with practice. In the business world one of the most important qualities for people in any supervisory or management position is to listen well. Mindfulness meditation can increase your focus and attention and will contribute to deepening your capacity to listen to others. So here are 5 ways you can begin improving your own listening skills.

1. Don't interrupt When someone else is speaking, do not interrupt them. When you interrupt someone, it makes it harder for them to complete their thoughts. It degrades the quality of the conversation and makes it much less likely that the other person will be able to say clearly what they had wanted to say. People will be grateful and appreciative when you allow them to speak without interrupting them.

I once was volunteering at a meditation center and I was working together with a Native American woman. During a conversation with her, she asked me to stop interrupting her. She said she was a slow talker and it took her time to develop her thoughts. When I interrupted her, she said she could not complete her train of thought. This was a big lesson for me. Since then I have always tried to practice not interrupting others.

2. Let Go of Your Agenda Letting go of your own agenda can improve your listening right away, because you don't need to rehearse what you're going to say, as the other person is speaking. When you let go of your attachment to the outcome it improves your presence and listening  immeasurably because it invites you to enter into the process of having a more complete conversation with someone. It is helpful in this regard to approach the conversation with another as an opportunity to learn something new, rather than winning or losing an argument.

3. Listen to the Whole Person Listening well, is much more than simply listening to the literal words the speaker is saying. It also involves eye contact, body language and what isn't said. Practice listening for what the person is feeling and needing as they are talking. This will help you hear more clearly what the person is meaning by the words they are using.

4. Don't Multi-task while another is speaking to you When you are listening to someone, give them your full attention. If you are trying to do something else, as the other person is speaking such as checking your emails or texting to someone, not only are you not listening well, but chances are you are making it very difficult for the other person to speak clearly too.

This happened to me not so long ago. Someone was visiting the Zen Center and asking me about meditation and as I was replying they were texting on their cell phone. I was surprised that I had a hard time finishing a sentence or completing my thoughts.

So the quality of your attention and listening actually helps others speak and communicate what they want to say more clearly.  In the practice of council circle that we do here at the Zen Life & Meditation Center, we speak and listen from the heart in such a way that we promote this kind of deep listening to each other.

5. Let the Person Know Your are Listening The only time you should interrupt another person, is to ask for clarification so that you can better understand what they are trying to say. It might sound like this: "Excuse me,  you just said a lot, and I'm not sure I got it all. Could I repeat what I heard you say to see if I heard you?" This kind of request for clarification is very powerful because it does two things. It keeps you honest because to re-state what you heard them say, you have to really be listening to them. And two, it indicates to the other person, you really are listening to them.

So listening is indeed a kind of art, but it's also a skill we can improve and it's application in your life will enhance and enrich your relationships immeasurably.

© 2011, Roshi Robert Althouse

Honoring Our Ancestors

In many cultures it is common to honor or even worship one's ancestors. You might think this is all well and good, but there are some ancestors I'd rather not remember. Like most of us, you have mixed feelings about your ancestors. Who are they anyway? They're certainly next of kin and they may even be close friends of the family. In our Zen tradition we also think of our lineage of teachers as our ancestors.

Since we are very individualistic and materialistic in our western culture, once people pass away, we don't really want to think about them too much. But if you can open to a larger perspective, you might be able to appreciate how honoring your ancestors is something worth doing. For this present moment is already connected to our past and our future; it includes past and present.

No matter how you feel about your family, it is your primary collective experience and it's been this way for human beings for thousands of years. This family system extends from generation to generation, and it's primary purpose is to propagate life and extend love to each succeeding generation.

And that's important. It's not just about survival. A vitally important aspect of all family systems is the harmonious belonging that members feel. This legacy of love is one of the most important aspects of family systems. When this flow of nurturing compassion is blocked, the members of the family system suffer.

When a family experiences some crisis, trauma or catastrophe that is beyond it's capacity or willingness to deal with, it passes this burden along to succeeding generations. I'm sure you've heard the expression, "The sins of the father are visited on their sons and daughters." It's common folk wisdom. And what is amazing about this; what may be difficult for our rational minds to grasp–is that much of this happens below the level of consciousness. And it shows up in a future family member as a hidden loyalty.

Let me give you an example. A young woman has repeatedly tried to start her own business with no success. Inexplicably something always seems to go wrong. It turns out her Grandfather was very successful in business and he had a partner who he treated very unjustly. The Grandfather cheated the partner out of his part of the business, and as a result this partner lived and died in terrible poverty. The young woman knows nothing about this consciously, and yet she is carrying this burden. Unconsciously, she has this hidden loyalty for the Grandfather's partner. And she is living this out in a pattern of doing business for herself in which she continues to sabotage herself.

So you can see in this case that the family system is not harmonious and this pattern gets carried on in future generations. So it's up each of us to restore our respective family systems to some kind of harmony so that the love can continue to flow and nurture ourselves and our succeeding generations.

Illness arises, not so much from repressing an emotion as from failing to act in a way that resolves disharmony. Your suffering is in many ways, easier to bare than it's resolution. Your suffering can be bound up with a feeling of innocence and loyalty at a magical level. You hope that through your suffering someone else may be rescued. So you become resistant and reluctant to give up your suffering, because if you do, it will have been for nothing. So you cling to some romantic notion that your suffering has a noble purpose.

Family systems are dysfunctional because of the skeletons they keep hidden in the closet. So it require some courageous member to begin pulling the skeletons out of the closet.

So in our hypothetical case-if this woman is able to become conscious of what happened with her Grandfather and his partner, and she becomes aware of her hidden loyalty for the partner, she can now choose to give the burden back to the Grandfather where it belongs. She's been carrying the burden all this time, but it wasn't really hers. It belongs to the Grandfather. Giving back the burden is an act of deep forgiveness and acceptance. And it allows the woman to get on with her life. It also allows the Grandfather to take responsibility for what he did, so now the blessings can begin to flow again within the family system. Harmony is restored.

So this is part of the practice of what I mean by honoring our ancestors. I don't mean worshiping them blindly, but seeing them for what they were. And there is both shadows and light. Many of the gifts they bestow on us are utterly positive and nurturing, as they should be.

Again, I know what I'm saying here may go against the grain of our culture. But in many cultures throughout the world, I think they understand these psychological truths at an intuitive level. So it's very common to keep family altars and make offerings to them so that they are pleased and the blessings continue to flow.

If you haven't already, you might want to start your own family altar. And there are many ways you can do this. If you don't have a photograph of the ancestor, pick any object in your home that intuitively helps represent that person for you, and place it on the altar. Think of these figures on your altar, not just as object, but as spirits who are there in the constellation you have arranged there to help you embrace the wholeness of the family system of which you are apart.

When I lived at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in the early 70's, each New Year's day we would always go to the grave of Noygen Senzaki and do a service at his grave site. It felt nice to do this. And I still remember the marvelous words on his tombstone which read as follows:

"Friends in the Dharma, be satisfied with your own heads. Do not put any false heads above your own. Then minute after minute watch your steps closely. Always keep your head cold and your feet warm. These are my last words to you."

May we honor our ancestors, and receive their blessings so that our families may be whole and continue to nurture succeeding generations.

© 2012, Roshi Robert Althouse

Freedom

Discipline is one of those adult words, like responsibility that you don't really want to hear too much about. You'd like to have some more of it, but you're not really sure how to sustain it on a regular ongoing basis. So I'd like to encourage you to consider how living a Zen-inspired life might bring with it a renewed sense of both discipline and responsibility that would not feel like a burden but might be more like lifting some weight that you've carried most of your life. When discipline arises organically within yourself as part of your genuine desire to be whole and genuine, you experience it, not as a duty or chore, but as joy, delight and freedom.

You might think freedom means doing whatever you want. But if you follow your every impulse, while it's initially exhilarating, it quickly becomes tedious and dull. You can break all the rules. You can live like a Zen beatnik; write haiku poetry and talk about esoteric metaphysical practices. You might enjoy firing off clever Zen sayings on the internet.

And yet, you are strangely disconnected from others, and your loneliness grows with each new insight. You grow weary of these constant indulgences. And it begins to dawn on you how easy it is to fool yourself. Your own arrogance has kept you closed and disconnected from others and you long to reconnect with something in yourself that is genuine and authentic.

With some trepidation you take small baby steps. You don't just change your lifestyle over night. You do it slowly. You take up a regular practice of meditation. You see that this requires discipline, but something is pulling at you. Something in you is longing to be free a new way. You get a taste of something good and wholesome in yourself that is unconditional.

It is surprising that such a simple practice of being still with yourself could make you accessible to others. You become reachable. You become teachable.  A Zen-inspired life is proactive in this way, because you become open to learning from your life experiences without blaming anyone else.

You begin to appreciate that true freedom is not about being free from something else. That is too reactive and simple-minded. True freedom arises from touching that in yourself which is unconditional and has no reference point at all. It's really up to you. There is no victim here. There is no one to blame anymore. Discipline helps you stay in the cracks, sit and remain within the fire of suffering. And this is where true freedom resides.

You feel some inspiration and curiosity about this kind of spiritual journey. You'd like to inquire further. You'd like to go deeper. This journey has a bitter-sweet quality. You are alone but not lonely anymore. You're not dependent on others, yet you are connected with everyone. Other spiritual friends show up in your life to share the path with you.

This is how you begin to live a Zen-inspired life of openness, empathy and clarity. It is not a burden. It's a joy. It's not a duty. It's a gift. It's not a struggle. It's an offering.

© 2011, Roshi Robert Althouse

Zen-inspired Life Style

Having practiced Zen most of my life, I feel blessed to have this spiritual path of practice. It is my firm conviction that Zen can be translated into the West in such a way that it is made more accessible to everyone, regardless of religion, belief or culture. I have started this blog as an inquiry into the nature of living a Zen-inspired lifestyle. What would that look like and how might it help us address many of the pressing problems we face in our world today? Every day people act in unethical ways, and in the face of clear evidence to the contrary, they often make short-sighted decisions. And people that act in ethical ways, contributing to the well-being of others often find themselves burnt out and exhausted.

How can living a Zen-inspired lifestyle help us find a moral compass in the wilderness of this world? And how can living a Zen-inspired life help those of us who are trying to do the right thing, but find ourselves spent and exhausted at the end of the day?

Living a Zen-inspired life of openness, empathy and clarity is something we need in our world today. The beauty of Zen is that it doesn't depend on any one religion. It's strength lies in it's radical inclusiveness. And though this spiritual path accommodates everyone, it's practice is not vague nor general but always specific and concrete.

Just having good intentions in not enough. We need real, practical wisdom that helps us co-create together the world we want to live in. This is challenging when we are ourselves, stressed out, and the magnitude of the problems we face are staggering and unprecedented. Take the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. While our anger and outrage is understandable, living a Zen-inspired life style can help us get beyond that. There's plenty of blame to go around but at the end of the day, how are we going to work together to solve this problem?

Margaret Wheatley recently wrote that our anger and aggression that results from our sense of urgency and panic is itself a source of toxin that prevents us from thinking clearly about solutions to this problem. She writes, "Think about what happens to us and our relationships when we feel a sense of urgency. We work harder and harder, we push our plans and agendas, we shove aside or disdain anyone with an alternative plan or point of view."

Without the kind of inner life Zen can provide, we are helpless in the face of our own irritation and anger. It's so easy to blame others, but so much harder to overcome our own aggression in order to communicate and listen to others.

At the Zen Life & Meditation Center our spiritual practice is grounded in mindfulness meditation. This simple meditation introduces into our lives a still point of silence that is not affected by our usually busy thoughts and concerns. Cultivating this hub of awareness can help us be stable but not rigid – flexible but not chaotic – resilient but not stubborn.

Parker Palmer, who has done so much to advance a clear agenda for improving our educational system, says that burn out is a real problem for teachers in our schools. 50% of those entering public education will be gone within 5 years. This is because schools as institutions of learning don't often provide a culture that nurtures growth and learning for teachers. And if they aren't growing and learning, how can we expect them to teach children to do the same?

He sites a study by Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schneider on school reform in Chicago that was done in the early 1990's. The study asked why some schools do better than others in teaching, reading, writing and math. They found that having money, in-service training or even state-of-the-art curriculum did not make any real difference. What made a significant difference was a variable they called "relational trust". If a school had high levels of relational trust among student and teachers, among administrators and teachers, among teacher and parents, the chance of raising student performance over a 10 year period increased dramatically.

At the Zen Life & Meditation Center part of our core curriculum teaches Nonviolent Communication. This language skill set can help us learn to approach conflict and disagreements with a higher degree of skill that can transform what are often devastating disagreements into opportunities for growth and learning. This kind of pro-active communication builds trust in interpersonal relationships.  I believe this is what a Zen-inspired lifestyle looks like. It is a lifestyle that leads to increased clarity and compassion that can calmly go about the business of healing ourselves and this world we all share together.

© 2010, Roshi Robert Althouse

Wholeness in a Divided World

What I'm doing at the moment on this personal web site, is posting past articles I've written, and associating them with a painting I've done in the last five years. My intention as I go forward is to eventually begin writing some new material that will integrate more fully my integration of Zen and creativity. This particular article was written as we were entering the housing crisis of 2009, but I think is still relevant as we face a new crisis at the beginning of 2018. I welcome comments or discussion.
Robert Althouse

"The blizzard of the worldhas crossed the threshold and it has overturned the order of the soul."

Leonard Cohen

I suppose we could all agree by now that the housing crisis is not the only bubble that is being burst in our world. As major world views are crumbling all around us how do we keep our sanity in the midst of this chaos and confusion? I hear of more and more people feeling pressure and stress in their work place. People are being laid off and losing their jobs. How are we going to make it through these kinds of cataclysmic changes? How do we muster the courage to stand for core values and wholeness in a divided world?

It's easy to be divided. We humans are very adept at compartmentalizing parts of ourselves. We may view ourselves as highly religious and moral but in another area of our life, act in ways that are completely without integrity. We deepen the deception when we imagine this is of no consequence to others. When we are divided, we will suffer, and those around us will suffer too. We can not live divided lives and have integrity at the same time. Rumi says, "If you are here unfaithfully with us, you're causing terrible damage." If we are living a lie, those around us will fee less safe and sane.

If the litany of stories coming out from the news of Wall Street are any indication, the level of greed and corruption took place on a shockingly grand scale. To make matters worse, we justify this with the thought that this is just the way it is. Where would we be if the Mandalas and Martin Luther Kings of this world had thought like that? It takes courage to stand for something in a world that often rewards being divided. How do we retrieve this wholeness in a world that is glutted with too much information and media that constantly mine our attention? Our education system values objective knowledge but what about wisdom? Our world is up-side-down. It has it all backwards. We are called upon to open our hearts and surrender by participating in a larger wholeness.

Zen practice returns us to what is elemental. We do "work practice" which always involves simple manual labor. Work does not need to be stressful or busy. It can be ordinary and dignified in it's simplicity. When we slow down, and attend to one thing at a time, such activity is very healing and restful. The antidote to stress in our cerebral world might well be doing something simple with our hands: weeding a garden, washing dishes, sweeping, dusting, or cleaning.

As I write this I am listening to some simple hymns played by Butch Baldassari. Butch passed away from cancer in early 2009, but he left behind a legacy of beautiful, simple and timeless music. When the world seems too complicated for me, I often find solace in this simple music. Wholeness is always close at hand. We have only to stop, and smell the flowers or feel the grass under our feet.

Being whole does not mean being perfect. In our Zen tradition, we study precepts as guides and reminders to wholeness. They are not a rigid set of moralistic rules. And we all break them. The Sangha is a community which is able to witness our commitment and intention to keep these precepts in a public jukai ceremony where we receive a lay-robe called a rakusu. On the back of this rakusu we embroider a broken pine branch in green threat. This broken branch represents our wholeness which can only come about by being completely broken open. The Poles have a saying that "the only whole heart is a broken heart."

Because it is difficult to remain whole in a divided world, we need trustworthy, reliable, tenacious friends, which we can find in a Sangha community. One of our conceits is to imagine we can be whole by ourselves. We need to be in relationship to others. We need community.

When we stand for something by remaining whole, we stand for everyone and everything. When we heal our heart, we heal everyone's. Our confidence is catching, and will spread to those around us, supporting their wholeness and broadening and deepening our circle of gratitude and appreciation.

© 2009, Roshi Robert Althouse

Paradox of CommuNity

You probably think community is a good thing. And if you don't have much of it in your life, the thought of having it, may stir a longing in your heart. And yet, you may also recognize in yourself a note of caution when it comes to joining one. There is an age-old fear of losing your identity to the formidable pressures of conforming to the group. When groups go wrong the potential for "group-think" and cult-like behavior is very real. So it's understandable why you hesitate before jumping into the communal swimming pool and drinking the kool-aid with your comrades.

Our mass society's greatest suffering may be the burden of loneliness it imposes on many. Without the organic relationships that genuine community cultivates, you are left to your own devices, impotent and powerless to realize yourself and the contributions to the larger world you have to offer.

So this longing for community remains. Is it possible to say something honest about what genuine community is? Is it possible to appreciate the nature of genuine community with all its challenges, paradoxes and blessings?

Living a Zen-inspired life helps you embrace paradox as part of life. Your conditioning has taught you to frame your life in dualistic terms such as self versus other, individual versus community, success versus failure. But there is a deeper truth wanting full expression in your life that invites you to embrace the tension of opposites as a path to a more creative and effective life.

The paradox of personal and communal space is alive in all communities. The more involved you become in a community the more important it is to define your personal boundaries. Healthy communities are able to respect this kind of boundary in all of their members. If they do not, chances are the pressures for group conformity will poison the health of the community.

In any real community you're going to rub elbows with people you might not choose to be with normally.  Community isn't like joining the gym or local country club. Parker Palmer, who has written with great insight about community says, "In fact, we might define true community as that place where the person you least want to live with always lives!" And yet, this diversity is really the crown jewel for identifying genuine community.

Community can be unsettling when shadow issues arise. In the Peacemaker Community, which June and I were involved with, we used the term "turning into the skid". This referred to the practice of opening to shadow issues once they had emerged in the collective. There is a strong tendency to dampen these down and avoid them, just as we avoid our own personal shadows. So an element of bravery is required to grow and sustain a genuine community.

Community calls forth commitment from you. Again Parker Palmer writes, "... community comes as a by-product of commitment and struggle. It comes when we step forward to right some wrong, to heal some hurt, to give some service. Then we discover each other as allies in resisting the diminishments of life." Community arises when you share a common mission that calls you to be not just a consumer, but a citizen in full interdependence with others.

And finally there remains the most profound paradox of all, the tension between solitude and fellowship. Ironically, your fear of yourself may be one of the greatest obstacles to belonging with others because community is going to require that you know yourself in solitude even as you join together with others in fellowship. Perhaps this is the hidden blessing that the paradox of community promises–that you find your true self by joining with others in a larger purpose.

Jesus said, "He who seeks his life will lose it, and he who loses his life . . . will find it." (Matthew 10:39)

© 2011, Roshi Robert Althouse

Going Downstairs

You can ascend too early on the spiritual path, seeking a fruit which is not yet ripened. This kind of spiritual-by-passing is not uncommon, but it's ungrounded and misleading. What is required first is that you descend. Major chunks of yourself have been disowned so it's necessary to go downstairs and visit the monsters in your basement. This takes courage because at first they will be quite large and scary. 

It's important to begin the spiritual path with a strong foundation of mindfulness meditation. And it's equally important to approach this practice of meditation, not as a technique you will master, but as an attunement to yourself that is kind and generous. It's important to acknowledges all aspects of your experience as valid. And of course, this includes the disowned energies which frighten and upset you. 

For some this journey will require psychological counseling. The wounds are just too deep to be healed by oneself. If you are fortunate to have a spiritual teacher or friend to encourage you, or a spiritual community that supports you, that will be helpful. But in the end, each of us descends those stairs into the dark basement, alone. You will need to spend some time down there making friends with your demons. So this is one way to think about meditation. It's a practice that allows you to visit the basement and hang out there. 

When you are faithful to this journey, the fruit will ripen in it's own time. It's an organic process. So eventually you come back up from the basement with more vitality and joy and a lighter heart. You find you have all the ingredients within yourself now to cook a good meal. And you can go forth into the world with more wisdom and love to help others find their way. 

This descent, transformation, and return is an old archetypal pattern, which Joseph Campbell wrote extensively about in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". 

In Mesoamerican culture this archetype is celebrated as Quezalcoatl, the plummed serpent. The archetype integrates our nothic nature with our winged nature. Quezalcoatl was associated with the planet Venus. So when Venus did not appear in the night sky it was believed he was down in the underworld doing battle with demons. When Venus arose in the night sky, it was believed that was Quezalcoatl returning victorious from the underworld. 

Many before us have descended, found clarity and returned to tell the tale. I'll close with the wonderful, wise words of Joseph Campbell:

"We have not even to risk the adventure alone
for the heroes of all time have gone before us.
The labyrinth is thoroughly known . . . 
we have only to follow the thread of the hero path.
And where we had thought to find an abomination
we shall find God.

And where we had thought to slay another
we shall slay ourselves.
Where we had thought to travel outwards
we shall come to the center of our own existence.
And where we had thought to be alone
we shall be with all the world."

© 2016, Roshi Robert Alhouse

Blue Pancake

Ummon said, "The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robe at the sound of the bell?" Each morning, as we finish meditation, a bell is rung, and we chant the verse of the okesa as we put our rakusu robes on top of our head. We chant,

Vast is the robe of liberation
A formless field of benefaction
I wear the Tathagata teaching
Saving all sentient beings.

Don't you long to be liberated by this vastness? Isn't your deepest desire to be complete and whole in this way? We speak of this experience as spirit, knowing that all words and concepts get in the way. You must let go of knowing for this experience is beyond time and space. This is given. You will not attain it no matter how hard you try. You may discover it and if you do, it will change everything. It has always been here and it is your deepest, truest self. Here there is no coming or going. 

If you see this, you can answer the questions, "Show me your original face before your parents were born?" 

In the early years of my practice at Zen Center of Los Angeles, Douglas Harding came and gave a talk about a little book he had recently published called "On Having No Head". In a room of 12 people, he'd ask, "How many heads are in the room?" And someone would say "12". So he'd ask again, "How many heads do you SEE in the room?" And someone would say, "Well, actually I only see 11." And that is an intriguing discovery because now you are no longer in the room, but the room is in you. And this is a glimpse of spirit. 

I encourage you to try this out for yourself. It will be helpful if you sit still with yourself before and after this so you can take it in as deeply as possible. Trungpa said it very well: "The sky is a blue pancake that plops on your head."

I hope you glimpse this for yourself. It's not difficult really. Just let go of "knowing" and it's right here; has always been here. It was here as the light met your eyes for the first time, and it will be here as the light leaves your eyes with your last breath. 

© 2017, Robert Althouse

Normalize Discomfort

When you think of living a Zen-inspired life, you might imagine it will lead to better times. You might have read impressive stories about people practicing Zen who have had extraordinary breakthroughs, and enlightenment experiences. 

So when things arise in your practice and your meditation that disturb you, you may easily get discouraged. This isn't what you signed on for. So I want to suggest that you normalize discomfort; that you proceed by allowing and acknowledging that suffering is part of your life and to walk on a spiritual path means to engage and transform this suffering, but not to avoid it. 

When I was seven years old, I used to sit by the heater in our living room and try to read the Bible. I talked to God and told him that if he would give me a sign, I surely, I would believe in him. But he never did give me a sign and I remember being quite disappointed and let down. 

Now I am turning 68 in a few months, and the body is not what it was so long ago. It's getting tired. I've developed a pinched nerve in my right arm which is stubborn and difficult to heal. And once it heals, it comes back several months later and plagues me for 3 to 4 months, making it difficult to even sit meditation. 

I can't say that I've always approached this pain with great equanimity. Sometimes I am frustrated and grumpy about it. But I take it as an opportunity to learn something. Pain can be a great teacher if you don't fight it. When I fight the pain, it gets worse. 

So I suggest that you normalize discomfort and then when it arises in your life, as it surely will, you won't be so upset. Our practice is to bear witness to both the joys and the sorrows of life. May your life be rich with both. 

© 2017, Robert Althouse

Cracked Bell

When the liberty bell was brought over to America from England, it wasn't too long before it cracked. The bell was melted down and recast at an American foundry but apparently, they didn't get it right either and it cracked again. 

A few days ago we did a Gate of Sweet Nectar service towards the end of our Spring Retreat (Sesshin). In the service we invited Leonard Jikan Cohen to become our Honored American Ancestor. There is a beautiful line from his poem, Anthem that you probably know well that goes as follows:

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."

Since we hadn't done the Gate of Sweet Nectar service for some time, we were a bit rusty and it was far from a perfect offering. Traditional Zen practice can easily be afflicted by this desire for perfection. So it can be disappointing when we fall short of the mark. 

I'm turing 68 in a few days, and I'm afraid my body is also falling short of the mark. It's so easy to gain weight, and a nerve in my neck and right arm get's easily inflamed making it difficult for me to sit meditation at all. 

If I learned anything from this retreat, which I could not participate in fully, it was to accept this cracked bell with more kindness and equanimity. I'm grateful for the true wealth in my life, my wife and sangha community. 

I had a dream during the retreat. I was on some beach with many people, and it was like a party, a demonstration or a Trump rally. It felt like a mardi gras because people were dressed in wild costumes. There was electricity in the air - a sense of excitement and danger mixed together. And then I found myself in a claustrophobic parking structure with a group of men that were spoiling for a fight. I was trying to find my way home but this mean looking character would have none of it and wouldn't let me go. And then I woke up. 

Dreams are about ourselves, and they are often about aspects of ourselves we'd rather not see. So this dream helped me see that I have some strong feelings about my country. Clearly, we are struggling through difficult times and it feels like we are, in many ways, a drift. So this dream reminded me of my own passion and aggression and how easily I could project it on to others. Perhaps it would be helpful to remember that our country, too is that cracked liberty bell in Philadelphia. 

What's the lesson here? Isn't it to open the heart? Isn't it to be kinder towards ourselves and others? It's easy to give in to fear and anger and to harden the heart with fixed ideas, opinions and judgments. 

Keizan Zenji, a great teacher in my lineage encouraged all of us to not only be ok with being this cracked bell, but to embrace it as the way itself. 

"Even though the firmament may be as clear as the water in autumn,
How could this compare to the hazy moon on a spring night?
Many want it pure white,
But sweep as you may, you will never empty the mind."

Imperfectly perfect, just the way you are. What could be better than that?

© 2017, Robert Althouse

Mindfulness in an Age of Distraction

It's estimated that the average person now sees about 5,000 ads a day. The all-consuming impact of technology infiltrates your life on a daily basis, and it has a voracious appetite that demands your attention. 

We are living in a new age, not just an age of distraction but a new colonial age where the colonial lords no longer need proxy armies to exploit the resources of others. They have Madison Avenue and multi-media empires instead. And make no mistake about it. They are mining your attention. They will do whatever it takes to get you to buy their product, the next version, the next cell phone, the next video game. So attention itself has become a scare commodity. 

One of the symptoms of this sad state of affairs is your increasing disembodiment. You no longer trust the wisdom of your body, and you've forgotten how to listen to it with patience and respect. Your body, mind and heart are out-of-sync, so things come at you suddenly from out of left field. This is unsettling and bewildering. For some it may be the source of panic attacks. Your fragmented and distracted awareness is the source of much of your anxiety and disconnectedness. 

If you want to take back your life you'll need to reclaim your attention. Mindfulness meditation can help you do that. Mindfulness is a grounded, embodied awareness. Awareness of the breath brings you back into the present and into your body. It helps you sync up your disjointed body, mind and heart. This mindful awareness is the source of healing, health, wellness and a genuine spiritual path of awakening I call living a Zen-inspired life.

Setting aside time to meditate may not be easy. It will require some courage. You've colluded with your colonial masters by using their distractions to run away from yourself. And now you're taking a gigantic step towards personal freedom and social responsibility. It will take time and patience. 

Fortunately there are genuine traditions and teachers and communities to guide you. Seek them out and commit to living the full measure of your humanity. Sanity and wisdom have never left you. But unless you reclaim your attention you'll never trust it. It's the richest resource you have. Don't squander it. And don’t give it away. 

© 2016, Roshi Robert Althouse

Spiritual Practice for Difficult Times

Difficult times are an opportunity to deepen the spiritual path and practice, to dig down and ground yourself in your meditation. Take time to be still, to be quiet and listen.

Then get up and go outside. Take a walk. There are seasons for everything. The rhythms of change may be large or small, slow or fast. Appreciate the cycles of light and dark, gain and loss. The dharma is timeless and vast. It can be a source of truth for you during times of uncertainty and rapid change. All humans are intrinsically awake, sane and good. Express your basic sanity by refraining from acting in anger or fear. Manifest your own goodness through acts of kindness and generosity towards others. 

Don't settle for anger, fear or reactivity. You are responsible for your behavior. You are free to choose hatred. You are free to choose love. And remember, hatred never was cured with more hatred. 

Maintain the precepts. Practice the paramitas of generosity, discipline, patience, effort, meditation and wisdom. Practice personal integrity. 

Proclaim the dharma by being gentle but firm. Let your true nature shine forth with courage and bravery. And seek to disarm anger by giving no fear. Listen. Learn. Plant seeds of goodness and water and nurture these seeds as often as possible. May all beings be free of suffering.

© 2016, Roshi Robert Althouse