Robert Aitken

River of Heaven

2011-05-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Dad's latest book..

An Open Letter on Journalistic Integrity and the Shambhala Sun

2011-02-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

[I received this from Nelson Foster and am publishing it at his request. -tom aitken]

An Open Letter on Journalistic Integrity and the Shambhala Sun

We adopt this means, as a last resort, to air a concern about a gross failure of journalistic ethics on the part of the Shambhala Sun. The world of American Buddhist publishing has been relatively small and honorable to date, so such a failure is conspicuous and, we feel, warrants public notice and remedy. Unfortunately, as we'll report in detail below, our efforts to obtain an appropriate correction directly from the Sun came to naught. Thus our recourse to this posting.

Before proceeding to specifics, we need to make clear that, by its actions, the Sun besmirched the memory of a man we hold very dear, our late teacher, friend, and collaborator, Robert Aitken Roshi. We've pursued the matter in part out of loyalty to him, feeling an obligation to correct the worst errors of fact in the Sun article. But Aitken Roshi's reputation is probably as secure as anything in this 'burning house' can be, and what's at stake here -- integrity in Buddhist journalism -- is both larger and more imminently perishable.

The problem began with the Sun commissioning an article about Aitken Roshi from a writer who had an axe to grind, a long-alienated Dharma successor named John Tarrant. When the article was published last year in its November issue, we expressed our concerns to Sun editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod, who responded, "Of course we were aware that we were treading into dangerous territory in asking John to do this homage, and we did sound out some people to ask whether they felt it would be resented by current students of Aitken Roshi's." We have no idea whom Mr. McLeod and his staff consulted or how seriously they took the process of consultation, but we do know that they didn't speak with the people most likely to be offended and also best positioned to gauge potential negative reactions -- those of us who remained close to Aitken Roshi at the end of his life and who represent the tradition that he and his wife established, the Diamond Sangha.

Despite awareness of the risk involved, the Sun commissioned the article from Dr. Tarrant and published it without any indication of concern and without disclosing the author's estrangement from Aitken Roshi. This is the error that troubles us most. While Mr. McLeod is certainly free to choose who writes for his magazine, journalistic ethics require that periodicals disclose personal history that might compromise their writers' fairness. Lacking such information, unsuspecting readers are ill-equipped to assess the reliability of what they read.

If the Sun maintained these professional standards, it would have needed to acknowledge that Dr. Tarrant's relationship with Aitken Roshi ruptured in the late 1990s and never recovered. Concerned that Dr. Tarrant's approach to Zen had gone seriously awry, for a year Aitken Roshi discreetly pressed him to pull his group out of the Diamond Sangha. This unhappy separation finally took place in 1999 but turned out to be a prelude to an even more painful break: when repeated and persuasive allegations of misconduct on Dr. Tarrant's part -- professional (in his work as a psychotherapist), sexual, and organizational -- came to light, after private efforts to encourage resolution proved unsuccessful, Aitken Roshi and ten other Diamond Sangha teachers issued an open letter, urging their former colleague to mend his ways. Dr. Tarrant reacted angrily. Communication between the two men came to an end.

Dr. Tarrant's desire to gloss over these facts in his article is understandable, but in agreeing to write about Aitken Roshi for the Buddhist public, he forfeited the option of concealing them. Since he chose not to disclose them himself, it was incumbent on the Sun to do so, and the resulting article makes the reason for this apparent. Although the Sun advertised the story on its cover as an "homage" to Aitken Roshi and Dr. Tarrant termed it a "tribute," it bore abundant signs that its author was still hurt and angry and had seized the opportunity to take revenge on his old teacher.

It's certainly peculiar for a tribute to a Zen master to feature the assertion that he "never stopped wondering if he had indeed ever had an enlightenment experience. . . . Sometimes he was quite sure he hadn't." Even more unusual is to couple a disparaging assessment of the master's realization with a triumphant rehearsal of one's own. How could the Sun serve this up as neutral and trustworthy reporting? Dr. Tarrant tells its readers Aitken Roshi "put down other teachers, out of a kind of embarrassed competitiveness," but somehow neither he nor the Sun seems to have noticed that he was trashing his own dead teacher -- not in private conversation but publicly, in print.

Just for the record, Aitken Roshi was appropriately humble about his awakening, but he spoke of it candidly as occasion required and wrote about it openly, too. Rather than relying on Dr. Tarrant's account, we suggest that readers look up "Willy-Nilly Zen," an autobiographical piece that Aitken Roshi prepared at his teacher's behest in 1971 and later published as an appendix to his well-known book Taking the Path of Zen. As his own telling makes clear, it wasn't a big-bang experience of the sort Dr. Tarrant trumpets, but it began a process of widening insight that ultimately made him a wise, compassionate, skillful, and upright teacher. Unfortunately, a big-bang realization doesn't ensure such a result.

The Sun story is as peculiar for what it omits as for its belittlement of Aitken Roshi's awakening. An homage can ordinarily be expected to stress its subject's strengths, but Dr. Tarrant and his editor managed to overlook a characteristic absolutely central to Aitken Roshi's nature and to his teaching and writing: his emphasis on the precepts and on living out the Dharma in all its ethical dimensions. This is the contribution to Western Buddhism for which he surely was best known and will be best remembered. How Dr. Tarrant and the Sun could neglect it we can't fathom.

Altogether, the Sun "homage" bears only intermittent resemblance to the person we knew. When Mr. McLeod received our letter-to-the-editor objecting to the article's inaccuracies and taking the Sun to task for not disclosing Dr. Tarrant's broken relationship with his subject, he promptly engaged us in revising our letter for publication in the Sun. This entailed tempering the "tone" of our comments and finding adequate ways to make our point while respecting the magazine's "pretty strong policy . . . not to get into detailed public discussions of possible misconduct." (Note: the text of our original letter is attached, below.)

We tolerated this extraordinary intrusion in the content of our letter, feeling it would be worthwhile to place even a watered-down critique before Sun subscribers. Accepting as sincere Mr. McLeod's assurance, "I think you're doing the right thing in writing this, and if there's fault it's mine for putting you in this spot," we went back and forth with him by phone and e-mail, working out a text he'd be willing to print. After we acceded to his final suggestion, Mr. McLeod volunteered his satisfaction with both our collaboration and its result, so we were astounded when he wrote again, five days later, declaring that he wouldn't use our letter after all.

Instead, he proposed that we start over, taking a different tack -- "to focus the letter exclusively on how you feel John [Tarrant]'s portrayal of Aitken Roshi was not accurate, and to offer your own view of him." In this fashion, he suggested, the letter could "become a completely positive contribution, in itself an homage to and celebration of Aitken Roshi." Maybe so, but it wouldn't be our letter anymore and, in its complete positivity, would let the Sun off the hook on the point we consider most crucial: its failure to adhere to a basic principle of fairness in journalism.

In making a case for this change of direction, Mr. McLeod advanced an argument that we find untenable, to put it mildly: "we have tried not to wash the Buddhist world's dirty laundry in public -- to avoid getting into detail about difficulties and divisions within Buddhist sanghas. This is particularly important in the Sun, with a substantial non-Buddhist or beginning Buddhist audience." To the degree that this policy represents refusal to indulge in back-biting and gossip-mongering, we enthusiastically applaud it; otherwise, it seems to us that it infantilizes readers and may protect them from information that beginners actually need to be attuned to in exploring the profusion of Buddhist paths, organizations, and teachers on offer in North America today. How he applied the policy in the present instance seems utterly indefensible, for while it has shielded his readers from awareness of Dr. Tarrant's misconduct and removal from the Diamond Sangha, it hasn't spared them his biased "tribute" impugning the wisdom and character of a widely respected teacher.

Needless to say, perhaps, we declined Mr. McLeod's request, and we counterproposed that he, as editor-in-chief, publish a statement acknowledging the error of printing Dr. Tarrant's article without divulging the fact and the causes of his bitter, ten-year alienation from Aitken Roshi. Mr. McLeod subsequently negotiated and ran (in the March issue) a letter from the Honolulu Diamond Sangha board of directors that politely laments his choice of author and corrects a few of the piece's numerous misstatements. Nowhere, however, has the Sun publicly acknowledged, and taken responsibility for, the editorial failures outlined above.

We feel that these failures are serious enough to cast doubt on the journalistic integrity of the Sun, and we urge other members of the American Buddhist community to register any concerns they may have on this subject, in the hope that Mr. McLeod and his staff will remember their mishandling of this story and exercise increased care when ethical questions arise in the future. If that were to happen, in the long run this sad incident might actually have beneficial results.

Nelson Foster
Ring of Bone Zendo and East Rock Sangha
Dharma heir of Aitken Roshi

Jack Shoemaker
Editorial director, Counterpoint Press
Literary Executor for Robert Aitken

Original letter, e-mailed to Melvin McLeod on October 20, 2010:

To the Editor:

In publishing John Tarrant's demeaning "tribute" to Robert Aitken Roshi, the Shambhala Sun has done a disservice not only to our late friend and teacher but also to its readers and the author himself. He professes surprise at discovering he had "any strong reaction" to Aitken Roshi's death, but his feelings have a long history, and anyone familiar with that history can understand how his deep-seated hurt and anger might have lingered. Sadly, they also have twisted an ostensibly warm reminiscence of his "Old Man" into a covert or perhaps unconscious score-settling. We wish Sun editors had spared everyone this beautifully crafted but badly distorted account.

Now that it's in print, readers deserve information that enables them to put it in context. Although Dr. Tarrant did enjoy a close and trusting relationship with his teacher for some time, by 1998 his approach to Zen had departed so seriously from that of the Diamond Sangha as a whole that, for the better part of a year, Aitken Roshi pressed him and his group to withdraw. After their withdrawal, in response to convincing reports of misconduct on Dr. Tarrant's part -- professional (as a psychotherapist), sexual, and organizational -- Aitken Roshi and ten other Diamond Sangha teachers issued an open letter calling on him to mend his ways. Communication between the two men ceased at that time, more than a decade ago.

Dr. Tarrant's reluctance to publicize these unhappy facts is understandable, and we take no pleasure in mentioning them, but journalistic ethics require that they be disclosed, if not by the writer himself then by the Sun. It's apparent to us that hard feelings significantly affected his portrait of his former teacher, for it bears a dim resemblance to the man we knew, each of us for longer than Dr. Tarrant did.

While faulting Aitken Roshi for "put[ting] down other teachers, out of a kind of embarrassed competitiveness," Dr. Tarrant has indulged in that vice himself, though seemingly without embarrassment. He manages to combine a glowing account of his own awakening with a disparaging account of his teacher's, even claiming that "Bob never stopped wondering if he had ever had" one. Horsefeathers. Aitken Roshi was appropriately modest about his experience, but he spoke about it publicly when circumstances warranted and wrote about it, too. Any reader who cares to look it up will find his own description of the experience and its subsequent unfolding in "Willy-Nilly Zen," an autobiographical piece he prepared in 1971 and published as an appendix to Taking the Path of Zen. Twenty-four years later, he repeated the tale at the request of a reporter in Bangkok!

We find it galling to see Aitken Roshi's humility and candor turned against him, not only in this matter but also with respect to his early uncertainties as a Zen teacher. These predate Dr. Tarrant's arrival from Australia, so he, like many others, heard about them after the fact, precisely because Aitken Roshi spoke openly about them, expressing profound gratitude for the guidance and encouragement he received from Maezumi Roshi. Anne Aitken used to lament that her husband had "no carapace," no protective covering, a trait that left him vulnerable to misrepresentation and mockery in life, as in death. It also made him approachable and inspiring, however, a man who showed by example how insight and character may mature over decades of practice. Dr. Tarrant's characterization of him as "timid and anxious" will astonish people who saw him teach confidently before large audiences in the 1980s and '90s.

Other errors of fact and interpretation we will set aside here, but we cannot close without noting a curious omission from this remembrance: it leaves utterly unmentioned the contribution to Western Buddhism for which Aitken Roshi is most widely known -- his attention to the ethical implications of practice and realization and his stress on embodying them in the social, economic, political, and environmental conditions of our day. He certainly had his share of failings, but he had greater and more important virtues than this account admits. We hope Sun readers will seek out less jaundiced appraisals of his life and work.

Nelson Foster
Ring of Bone Zendo
Dharma heir of Aitken Roshi

Jack Shoemaker
Editorial director, Counterpoint Press
Literary Executor for Robert Aitken

Gratitude

2011-01-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

This closing post links a number of tributes to Robert Aitken. Please feel free to comment with additional links. I speak for the entire family when I thank you all for your profound and heartfelt support. -tom aitken

Friends of Robert Aitken - Robert Aitken Roshi (1917-2010):
http://www.aitkenroshi.org/

Buddhist Peace Fellowship:
http://www.bpf.org/what-buddhists-are-saying/robert-aitken

LA Times - Robert Aitken dies at 93; American Zen Master:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-robert-aitken-20100810,0,7194137.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fobituaries+(Los+Angeles+Times+-+Obituaries)

Star-Advertiser - Zen Buddhist master was also community activist:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100811_Zen_Buddhist_master_was_also_community_activist.html

Maui News - Zen master Robert Aitken dies at 93:
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/534430.html?nav=10

The Buddhist Channel - Robert Aitken Roshi - His story and legacy:
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,9398,0,0,1,0

Tricycle - Robert Aitken (1917-2010): A Life Well Lived:
http://www.tricycle.com/p/2150

The Engaged Zen Foundation - In Memory of Dairyu Chotan Robert Baker Aitken, Rodaishi "Papa":
http://www.engaged-zen.org/Papa.html

Blogisattva - Lifetime Achievement Award:
http://www.blogisattva.org/2010/12/blogisattva-lifetime-achievement-award.html

Examiner.com - The passing of Robert Aitken Roshi:
http://www.examiner.com/buddhism-in-national/world-sangha-mourns-the-passing-of-robert-aitken-roshi

MahaSangha News - Robert Aitken Roshi (1917-2010): His story and legacy:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/news/?p=14676

Shambhala SunSpace - Remembering Robert Aitken (1917-2010):
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=17934

iLind.net - Aloha to Robert Aitken, “Aitken Roshi”:
http://ilind.net/2010/08/05/aloha-to-robert-aitken-aitken-roshi/

Church of the Crossroads - “Lifetime Peacemaker Award”:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/features/religionstories/20110108_Honoree_working_for_Mideast_peace.html

Memorial Service for Robert Aitken - August 22, 2010, 10 AM

2010-08-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

A memorial ceremony and celebration for Robert Aitken will be held at Palolo Zen Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday, August 22 at 10 AM.

For further information contact Roland Sugimoto at the Honolulu Diamond Sangha:

   http://www.diamondsangha.org
   info@diamondsangha.org
   808-735-1347

Goodbye Dad, Grampa, Papa, Friend, Teacher, Scholar, Educator, Author, Roshi ....

2010-08-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

Aitken Roshi passed away today, Thursday, August 5, 2010, at around 5:30 pm at Straub hospital in Honolulu. He was 93.

Dedication

2010-07-10T17:15:00.001-07:00

Buddha-nature pervades the whole universe, existing right here now. With our reciting of the Great Prajñā Paramitā Heart Surtra, let us unite with the Ancient Seven Buddhas Daioshō, Shakyamuni Buddha Daioshō, all Founding Teachers Daioshō. We especially dedicate our Sutra, and our loving thoughts to you,, sisters abused from 1964 until now. May you find rest, peace and fulfillment in your lives; all Buddhas throughout space and time, all Bodhisattvas, Mahāsatvas, the Great Prajñā Paramitā.

NOTE about accusations

2010-06-11T16:44:00.001-07:00

We received an anonymous comment implicating another teacher as abusive. It is not our practice to publish such a comment without some substantiation. A link to reliable information would be helpful. Thank you for your understanding. -tom aitken

Tangled Web

2010-06-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Buddha’s teaching was very simple, “Always do good, never do evil, keep your mind clear.”
[this post was published without this first line above--apologies]
By failing to follow these simple guidelines, and instead by following the way of Machiavelli, one tends to contrive and strategize. Walter Scott wrote, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive!” But “murder will out.” Eventually, the failure to follow the Buddha’s injunctions will be exposed. The failure to follow what one learned in kindergarten will be revealed.

Eido Tai Shimano Roshi

2010-05-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

This is an open letter to Eido Tai Shimano Roshi:

Dear Tai San,

There are many reports of your abuse of women published on the web which indicate that you have been involved in breaking the precepts over a period of more than 40 years. I would like to urge you to come forth and make a statement in response to these accusations.

Sincerely yours,

Robert Aitken

Shimano Eido Roshi

2010-05-16T17:36:00.001-07:00

I am exercising my editorial prerogative and removed this post for now. Stay tuned. -tom aitken

OUR TENDENCY

2010-04-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Xuefeng Yicun called Xuansha Shibei a true ascetic. One day he cornered him and said, "You're a reborn sage. Why don't you go about on pilgrimage to meet enlightened masters?"

Xuan said, "Bodhidharma didn't come to China. The Second Ancestor didn't go to India."

Xuansha is our true teacher. We tend to go over there: to Zen and its many stories, to Vipassana, to all sorts of Hindu faiths, to Meister Eckhart and the various saints. Whatever happened to breath-counting? One…Two…Three…and so on up to Ten. That is our pilgrimage. Xuansha is smiling. Even Bodhidharma cracks his face.

Give What's There a Chance

2010-04-10T18:11:00.001-07:00

In his “Song of Zazen,” Hakuin Zenji wrote “All beings by nature are Buddha.” How should you give Buddha a chance to prove himself as your nature? By clearing away the rubbish that obscures him. How do you clear away the rubbish? You cultivate his ground of zazen. Like Australians who clear the original ground of rubbishy exotics to give indigenous plants a chance, so settling into “Zhaozhou’s “Mu, Mu, Mu . . .” give him a chance to slip on your jacket. I don’t know of any other way.

All Things Come

2010-03-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Zen practice is a matter of patience. To quote the proverb: "All things come to those who wait." There are the similar lines at the close of John Milton sonnet on his blindness, "They also serve who only stand and wait." Similar, but there is a fundamental difference, highlighted with the directionality of "come to" and "serve." As Dōgen Zenji said, "That the self advances and confirms the myriad things is delusion. That the myriad things advance and confirm the self is true realization.

Follow Your Doubt

2010-02-27T17:56:00.001-08:00

If you want to explore Zen practice, sign up for orientation at a promising Zen center. In the question period, ask about Zhouzhou and his response to a question about the Buddha-nature of a dog. If you get a reply to the effect that it all happened far away and long ago, you have the wrong center. Keep looking for a reply to the effect that it is happening as we speak. Then you might be in the right center. Let the teacher convince you.

THE FA CTS

2010-02-10T12:09:00.001-08:00

Let the facts speak for themselves”—this is a basic injunction in Zen Buddhism. It is one I neglected when I sent emails to justify a past action. While I’ll be happy to discuss the matter with the people involved, It remains a bad mistake that speaks for itself.

Count Your Breaths

2010-02-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

If your teacher is not a fake, he or she will tell you to count your breaths. If he or she advises you to do something else at the outset of your practice, you have a fake teacher. Use this criterion and find somebody genuine.

Show Me

2010-01-22T13:34:00.001-08:00

The Heart Sutra says, “Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form; form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form; sensation, perception, formulation, consciousness are also like this.” Show me what the sutra is getting at.

Attention!

2009-12-12T09:22:00.001-08:00

"Pay attention!" my mother used to say. It is good advice for us in our zazen. Attention! Everything is dark and quiet. There is no sound of a passing vehicle, no chatter of birds on the lawn, no laughter of children playing volleyball. There is nothing in the whole universe. Dōgen Zenji would heartily approve.

Dissatisfaction

2009-11-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

Many people are drawn to Zen by their dissatisfaction with themselves. They want to be someone else. They point to Deshan, but they are pointing to the greenhorn Deshan, when he was always already to argue. If you are stuck here, you are still riding a tricycle. Deshan didn’t become somebody else. He just matured. You put away childish things once you slice through Deshan’s ultimately mature challenge, “If you can say ‘Yes,’ you get 30 blows; if you say ‘No,’ you get 30 blows.

The Theme

2009-10-26T12:52:00.001-07:00

When you go to a concert, you don’t just sit there, listening to the music. You focus on the themes. When you do zazen, you don’t just sit there, doing Mu. You questioning sprit is your theme. The answer is right there. As my old dad would say, “If it’d been a bear, it would’ve bit you.”

Unsafe

2009-10-08T10:30:00.001-07:00

Ralph Nader said the Chevrolet Corvair is unsafe at any speed. So are you. Your walking pace is dangerous. Your security comes when you are completely still. Nothing whatever is happening at last. Nothing has absorbed you. Dōgen Zenji called this "Nothing but sitting."

Messy Mind

2009-09-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

It's hard to do effective work when your desk is a mess. I once worked for a woman who had to pat the papers on her desk. in order to find her glasses to begin her work. Likewise, you can't do zazen with a messy mind. You can't even start. Clean it up, bit by bit, by counting your breaths: "One. . ., two. . ., three." Thus your mind is cleaned—and off you go with Dōgen and Zhaozhou.

The Dharma

2009-09-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

The dharma is giving you a chance to learn who you really are, and I’m sure you are grateful. How do you keep this dana circulating? You be the dharma as best you can, and the old wheel will to grind out its richness. The closer you are to true intimacy with the dharma, the finer the grind will be.

Killing Time

2009-08-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yamamoto Genpō Rōshi used to say, "There is no killing worse than the killing of time." Reading from the crime section of the newspaper, he would relate how a man stabbed his wife and children to death. He would read how a woman bludgeoned her husband to death. Then he would say, "There is no killing worse than the killing of time." When I stray from Mu, and return, I thank my old teacher for saving me from death row.

Attention

2009-08-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

Attention is the way. When you pay attention in your zazen, you notice how easily you slip into attention to something else. Return to the original attention of your zazen. Then when you notice that something else has slipped into view, return again to your original attention. This is the process of zazen. Nothing else is important. So the Ancients could say, “Sitting is Zen, lying down is Zen.”
-RA

Who hears?

2009-07-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Seikan Hasegawa said, "Kōans are matters to be made clear." They are not matters to be explained. They have no purpose except to clarify. The master of hearing that birdsong is not the thrush holding forth on the railing outside. Who hears? Who hears?

Wandering

2009-07-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Shaku Sōen said, "Zazen is not a difficult task. It is a way to lead you to your long lost home." Where is your home? Lost on dark paths of ignorance you wander through the six worlds; from dark path to dark path you wander, when shall you be freed from birth and death? When indeed!

Some Hope

2009-06-17T14:54:00.001-07:00

The Buddha Shakyamuni ascended the rostrum and said, “All beings have the wisdom and virtue of the Tathagata. Their delusions and preoccupations keep them from realizing that fact. A Tathagata is a perfectly realized Buddha. Who was he referring to with his expression “all beings”? If you can answer that question, I have some hope for you.

Paranoia and preoccupation

2009-05-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you find yourself in a paranoid condition or a self-preoccupied condition in your zazen. It can last for an entire sesshin, or persist over several sesshins. But if you persevere, it will fade at last and you can get back to your zazen. I had a severe misunderstand with my mother just before I did my first sesshins, more than 60 years ago. For throse first three sesshins I couldn’t do zazen. My relentless theme was MY DAMN MOTHER. I persevered, and I finally count my breaths. Please persevere!

Personal Growth and Dharma Growth

2009-05-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to compare personal growth with Dharma growth. With good advice the young person knows that she can’t predict what kind of career she will follow as an adult. People train to be engineers and turn out to be teachers of English. With good advice the Zen student knows that Realization will not turn out to be what she expects at all. On the other hand, a young person will grow up, even though she wants to stay as a child. A Dharma student will not grow at all if she decides to stay where she is.

Taking it personally

2009-04-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

It is easy to take things people say personally. Can you take the Dharma personally? At the end of each day of sesshin a leader calls out, “All things pass quickly away.” Fine words! Can you take them personally? They are meant for you and me. Hakuin wrote. “All beings by nature are Buddha.” Fine words! Can you take them personally? They are meant for you and me.

Health Report

2009-04-19T02:59:00.001-07:00

I will return to the subject of Zen next time. For now I want to report a brand new health development. I have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and require 24 hour nursing care. I am not so concerned about this. I can dictate my stuff. I know an effective political activist who has been living with Parkinson for 20 years. I am, however, really worried about the new, exorbitant cost of 24 hour nursing care. This is not an appeal, but if you are moved to help out, please check: http://www.aitkenroshi.org/

Step by Step

2009-04-07T00:24:00.000-07:00

In taking the path of Zen you are faced with decisions at every juncture. You might choose to go one way, with my blessing. I will offer my preference, for what it may be worth.

You might want to do your work at home, on line, before a computer. I would much rather do my work at home on my cushions and travel to sesshin.

You might want to change yourself. I would rather learn to accept myself.

Your purpose might be to become a priest. I would rather become a realized person.

You might consider kōans to be historical artifacts. I consider them to be personal guides along the ancient way.

You might consider each kōan to be part of a sequence. I would rather consider them to be my valued practice in and for themselves.

You might think of intervals between your seated practice as breaks. I think of them as practice.

You might think of your assignments during sesshin as jobs. I think of them as practice.

You might think your vow “to enable the many being": is to be something to recite. I try to take it to heart.

You might consider completing the last kōan of your assigned study to be the end of something. I would much rather consider it to be the beginning of something.

When you are made the master of your Zen temple or Zen center, you might expect to be called “Rōshi” by everyone. However it’s up to the Sangha members. Many Western masters continue to be called by their first names.

--RA

When You Check in to a Hospital

2009-03-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

When you check in to a hospital the procedures are arbitrary and infantalizing. After you are there for a while you realize they are just right for you, yet the procedures have not changed. When you first take up zazen, you hear the expression "All Beings by Nature are Buddha". This is abstract and unreal. After you practice for a while, maybe a long while, you realize this very body is the Buddha, but it's not Buddha nature that's changed.

--RA

Clarification

2009-03-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

I am going to be posting items that might be of interest. You may respond with your comments if you wish. I will read them, but I will not necessarily respond.

The Purpose of This Blog

2009-02-25T16:26:00.000-08:00

After experimenting around it has become clear to me that I should set forth what I will say and what I will not say. I will respond directly to matters relating to the Dharma which we can talk about as friends. I am not a teacher, and have not been since I retired many years ago. Please don't ask me anything that would be best addressed to your own master.

tba

2009-02-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

Dear Will: The presentational is the non-explanatory. The presentation of any koan is only for the face-to-face encounter with your master.

090222

2009-02-22T16:35:00.001-08:00

Of course Dogen’s words about body and mind and Zhaochou’s words about the dog form different cases. What will your responses show? If your response to the one case shows a deep personal realization, and your response to the other shows something equally deep, then you’re on your way! Koan study is not a comparative study of concepts.

Today's message

2009-02-19T11:33:00.001-08:00

RA here again. It's time for me to respond to those who are doing zazen regularly.

--RA

Aloha!

2009-02-05T12:41:00.001-08:00

With help from my friends, I am establishing this new blog. It is designed mainly as a way for us to ruminate about Dharma matters. My webmaster will screen out other stuff and I won’t see it.