Mark Foote

"What are their names, and on what streets do they live, I'd like to ride, ride over..."--David Crosby A thing that is unique in all the religious literature of the world is Gautama's characterization of mindfulness as a function of the four arisings of mindfulness: mindfulness of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of the states of mind in the states of mind. How is Zen that?--such a fundamental aspect of Gautama's teaching! Don't mistake me, I believe Zen is that, just wondering if anyone else does.

Miraculous power and marvelous activity Drawing water and chopping wood. (“The Recorded Sayings of Layman P’ang: A Ninth-Century Zen Classic”, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Yoshitaka Iriya, Dana R. Fraser, p 46) There’s a similar saying in “The Gospel According to Thomas”, a gnostic gospel: Cleave a (piece of) wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there. (“The Gospel According to Thomas”, log 77; coptic text established and translated by A. Guillaumont, H.-CH. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till and Yassah ‘Abd Al Masih, p 43) Sometimes people hold their breath in cleaving wood, or in lifting a heavy bucket or stone. Moshe Feldenkrais observed that some people hold their breath when getting up out of a chair, and he put forward a way to avoid that: …When the center of gravity has really moved forward over the feet a reflex movement will originate in the old nervous system and straighten the legs; this automatic movement will not be felt as an effort at all. (“Awareness Through Movement”, Moshe Feldenkrais, p 78) Feldenkrais stipulated that: … there must be no muscular effort deriving from voluntary control, regardless of whether this effort is known and deliberate or concealed from the consciousness by habit. (ibid, p 76) The paired sayings highlight moments when the weight of the body combines with a singular location of consciousness to cause “reflex movement” in the action of the body. “Reflex movement” can also be engaged to sit upright, as the weight of the body combines with a singular location of consciousness. In Gautama’s teaching, a singularity in the location of consciousness follows “making self-surrender the object of thought”: … the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (SN 48.10, tr. Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) In my experience: …“one-pointedness” occurs when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a singular location in the body, and a person “lays hold of one-pointedness” when they remain awake as the singular location shifts. (Just to Sit) (Drawing Water and Chopping Wood) There's more, in Drawing Water and Chopping Wood--Paul Jung can stop holding his breath.

Let me just confuse you more: As to this… right view comes first. And how… does right view come first? If one comprehends that wrong purpose is wrong purpose and comprehends that right purpose is right purpose, that is… right view. And what… is wrong purpose? Purpose for sense-pleasures, purpose for ill-will, purpose for harming. This… is wrong purpose. And what… is right purpose? Now I… say that right purpose is twofold. There is… the right purpose that has cankers, is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving (to new birth). There is… the right purpose which is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a factor of the Way. And what… is the purpose which is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving? Purpose for renunciation, purpose for non-ill-will, purpose for non-harming. This… is right purpose that… ripens unto cleaving. And what… is the right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way? Whatever… is reasoning, initial thought, purpose, an activity of speech through the complete focussing and application of the mind in one who, by developing the [noble] Way, is of [noble] thought, of cankerless thought, and is conversant with the [noble] Way–this… is right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way. (MN 117, tr. Pali Text Society vol III pp 113-121) In other words, you can't get there from here. "Why?" is difficult to explain. I think of it as engaging my whole being, instead of pushing myself around from the left hemisphere. And how does one engage one's whole being? Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. In layman's terms: …“one-pointedness” occurs when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a singular location in the body, and a person “lays hold of one-pointedness” when they remain awake as the singular location shifts. (Just to Sit) Holding any bent-knee posture for a period of time will yield a movement of breath that necessitates the placement of attention at a singular location. Hello, Jesus! Find the seat and put on the robe, and afterward see for yourself. ("Zen Letters, Teachings of Yuanwu", tr. Cleary and Cleary, p 65) Alternative method for finding Jesus: Cleave a (piece of) wood, I am there; lift up the stone and you will find Me there. (“The Gospel According to Thomas”, log 77; coptic text established and translated by A. Guillaumont, H.-CH. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till and Yassah ‘Abd Al Masih, p 43) More on that in Drawing Water and Chopping Wood. Lots of nice quotes about freedom, too! What if God was one of usJust a slob like one of usJust a stranger on the busTryin' to make His way home? (One of Us, Joan Osbourne) The gift IMHO is the animal ability to return reason to the fire, but humans have a hard time acknowledging that they are animals. Nevertheless, I have hope: As a master of Zen archery, Kobun was asked to teach a course at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. The target was set up on a beautiful grassy area on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Kobun took his bow, notched the arrow, took careful aim, and shot. The arrow sailed high over the target, went past the railing, beyond the cliff, only to plunge into the ocean far below. Kobun looked happily at the shocked students and shouted, "Bull's eye!!" (Anecdotes by Joan Halifax Roshi, https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/otokawa.html)

Christmas dinner's near all good wishes, a grand day and now, gentle tunes

someone else's shoes are on my feet; they look good, I think I'll keep them

Happy longest night!

The question inspired me, and I wrote a post in response--I can post the whole thing here, but it's a bit long for that (not that my posts aren't long anyway): Drawing Water and Chopping Wood Hopefully a better answer. I didn't address the fact that the Zen saying emphasizes enlightenment, but the enlightenment referred to is not enlightenment as Gautama described it--I take that up in One Way or Another.

I recognize these dance steps! I see these people, and I dance with them every weekend, at the local native American casino.

where is this place, please...

juice, lips, tongue, sweet now and not a kiss to be had anywhere--but then anywhere--but then everywhere--come, get your share when we all shine on

Where am I!?

Love Cleary's translation at the bottom of your primer: Carrying vitality and consciousness, embracing them as one, can you keep them from parting? "Carrying vitality" implies a sense of weight--here's something from a piece I'm writing now, slightly edited: Moshe Feldenkrais observed that people sometimes hold their breath just to get up out of a chair, and he outlined a way to avoid that: …When the center of gravity has really moved forward over the feet a reflex movement will originate in the old nervous system and straighten the legs; this automatic movement will not be felt as an effort at all. (“Awareness Through Movement”, © 1972, 1977 Moshe Feldenkrais, p 78) Feldenkrais stipulated that: … there must be no muscular effort deriving from voluntary control, regardless of whether this effort is known and deliberate or concealed from the consciousness by habit. (ibid, p 76) “Reflex movement” can also be engaged to sit or stand, as the weight of the body combines with a singular location of consciousness. In Gautama’s teaching, a singularity in the location of consciousness follows “making self-surrender the object of thought”: … the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (SN 48.10, tr. Pali Text Society vol V p 174; “noble” substituted for Ariyan) In my experience: …“one-pointedness” occurs when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a singular location in the body, and a person “lays hold of one-pointedness” when they remain awake as the singular location shifts. (Just to Sit) As to "... embracing them as one, can you keep them from parting?": As Gautama said, there can also come a moment when: … seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. (AN 5.28, tr. PTS vol. III pp 18-19, parentheticals paraphrase original) The “pureness of mind” that Gautama referred to is the pureness of the mind without any will or intention to act in the body. There is a feeling of freedom, when the body is suffused with “purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” and the activity of inhalation and exhalation is “reflex movement” regardless of where consciousness takes place. The experience can be recalled in standing and in daily life through an overview of the body taken at the close of the seated experience, the "survey-sign" of the concentration. There are some details of anatomy and of fascial support for the vertebrae of the sacrum and spine that might interest you, here: A Natural Mindfulness (hardcopy through Amazon).

Cold morning, train horn blow, whistle freight train--take me far on down the track

What is Lorem Ipsum? Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. Generate some today, at: Lorem Ipsum

Well, thanks for the excellent questions! The more we try to do right, the more we do wrong, IMHO. (yours truly, this thread) I can actually state that more easily with parlance borrowed from modern Christianity: we're all helpless sinners, incapable of doing the right thing--only by allowing Jesus within, and giving it over to Jesus, does the right thing get done. Only by relinquishing volition in action and allowing the location of consciousness and the weight of the body to initiate "reflex movement" in the body wherever consciousness takes place, does the right activity take place--at least, in zazen. There's an ease associated with that "reflex movement", until the moment when consciousness is completely without intention with regard to the body and "reflex movement" still occurs wherever a singular consciousness takes place. What will be the difference? You have freedom, you know, from everything. That is, you know, the main point. (Sesshin Lecture, Shunryu Suzuki; Day 5 Wednesday, June 9, 1971 San Francisco) As I mentioned in a reply to Stirling on this thread, it's been my experience that my heart-felt belief translates into action, when I relinquish volition as above in everyday life. In practice, returning to "one-pointedness of mind" and to the cessation of "voluntary control" or habit in inhalation and exhalation allows for the right thing to get done. "Supermundane components" is really above my pay grade, but as Gautama described his mindfulness as a path to "freedom through knowledge" (MN 118), I think "self-surrender" and "one-pointedness" is a good start.

…I know not of any other single thing of such power to cause the arising of malevolence, if not already arisen, or if arisen, to cause its more-becoming and increase, as the repulsive feature (of things). In (one) who pays not systematic attention to the repulsive feature, malevolence, if not already arisen, arises: or, if arisen, it is liable to more-becoming and increase. …I know not of any other single thing of such power to prevent the arising of malevolence, if not already arisen: or, if arisen, to cause its abandonment, as the heart’s release through amity. In (one) who gives systematic attention to amity which releases the heart, malevolence, if not already arisen, arises not: or, if arisen, it is abandoned. (AN 1.11–20; tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 2-4) Nothing about dependent causation there. Gautama did not gradually develop insight into the four truths of suffering, including dependent origination. It came to him as he exercised various psychic powers in the fourth concentration (DN 2). The "intuitive wisdom" that was his enlightenment appears to have arrived suddenly--that's my reading. Regarding skill--from my Making Sense of the Pali Canon: Certain things “on the side of skill” were specified; these were the ten components of the “perfected one’s” course (right view through right freedom), and also “ … those various skilled things conditioned by [the ten components]”. Each of the ten components had one associated set of “various skilled things”; thus, said Gautama: … there are twenty (components) on the side of skill …. (MN 117; tr. Pali Text Society, vol III p 120) An example of the complexity of the skilled things--right purpose: As to this… right view comes first. And how… does right view come first? If one comprehends that wrong purpose is wrong purpose and comprehends that right purpose is right purpose, that is… right view. And what… is wrong purpose? Purpose for sense-pleasures, purpose for ill-will, purpose for harming. This… is wrong purpose. And what… is right purpose? Now I… say that right purpose is twofold. There is… the right purpose that has cankers, is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving (to new birth). There is… the right purpose which is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a factor of the Way. And what… is the purpose which is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving? Purpose for renunciation, purpose for non-ill-will, purpose for non-harming. This… is right purpose that… ripens unto cleaving. And what… is the right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way? Whatever… is reasoning, initial thought, purpose, an activity of speech through the complete focussing and application of the mind in one who, by developing the [noble] Way, is of [noble] thought, of cankerless thought, and is conversant with the [noble] Way–this… is right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way. (ibid, p 113-121) The more we try to do right, the more we do wrong, IMHO. "Making self-surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness"--that, I believe, is the only way to the "supermundane" components of the way. Something directed at the "how" that does return to the four arisings of mindfulness, yet as I wrote previously, good luck with the four arisings without "one-pointedness of mind": …after the meal, [sit] down cross-legged, holding the back erect, [and make] mindfulness rise up… getting rid of coveting for the world, [dwell] with a mind devoid of coveting, [purify] the mind of coveting. By getting rid of the taint of ill-will, [dwell] benevolent in mind, compassionate for the welfare of all creatures and beings, [purify] the mind of ill-will. By getting rid of sloth and torpor, [dwell] devoid of sloth and torpor; perceiving the light, mindful, clearly conscious, [purify] the mind of sloth and torpor. By getting rid of restlessness and worry, [dwell] calmly; the mind subjectively tranquillised, [purify] the mind of restlessness and worry. By getting rid of doubt, [dwell] doubt-crossed, unperplexed as to the states that are skilled, [purify] the mind of doubt…by getting rid of these five hindrances which are defilements of the mind and weakening to intuitive wisdom, [dwell] contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly conscious (of it), mindful (of it) so as to control the covetousness and dejection in the world. [As with the body, fare] along contemplating the feelings … the mind… the mental states in the mental states, ardent, clearly conscious (of them), mindful (of them) so as to control the covetousness and dejection in the world.” (ibid)

The question is, how do you remain aware of what's happening in the present moment? The impression (and limited experience) that I have is that steady mindfulness depends on a return to "one-pointedness of mind" and a readiness to experience mindfulness in each of the four arisings of mindfulness. The trick is that a return to "one-pointedness of mind" is a physical experience, and I would say an experience that not everybody involved in teaching mindfulness has had. The return depends on the fifteenth element of Gautama's own mindfulness, the fifteenth element of his way of living "especially in the rainy season": I will breathe in observing stopping, I will breathe out observing stopping.” (MN 118, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III p 124) That to me involves a witness of the cessation of will or intention in the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, the mark of the fourth concentration, recalled through an overview of the body taken after the fourth concentration (the "survey-sign"). We have: When a Tathagata is teaching dharma [the natural law] to others it is for the sake of general instruction. And I… at the close of such a talk, steady, calm, make one-pointed and concentrate my mind subjectively in that first characteristic of concentration in which I ever constantly abide. (tr. Pali Text Society MN 36 p 303; emphasis added) That says that Gautama returned to "one-pointedness" after he spoke, and abided in "one-pointedness". He set up a return to "one-pointedness" in seated meditation, beginning with the first concentration (and proceeding through the fourth and the sign, the "five limbs of concentration"): Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought initial and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN 48.10, © Pali Text Society vol V p 174; parentheticals para­phrase original; Horner’s “initial” (MN 119) substituted for Woodward’s “di­rected”; emphasis added) Gautama never states exactly what the "thought initial and sustained" of the "first trance" is, but he does explicitly state the thoughts that made up his own mindfulness, the mindfulness that he said was his way of living before and after enlightenment. Surprise! They were four thoughts each, mindfulness of the body, of the feelings, of the mind, and of the state of mind. What I'm saying here is, "no return to one-pointedness--no ability to sustain mindfulness".

You may not believe this, Stirling, but in my experience my heart-felt beliefs become my actions. When I relinquish volition in action! The moral for me is that I need to be very careful to take in as many view points as I can trust.

Some stuff that's helping me to preserve "one-pointedness of mind", whether at the LDT or elsewhere. I had to write it myself, seems that nobody else has! The initial concentration is induced, said Gautama, by “making self-surrender the object of thought”: … the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought initial and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN 48.10, tr. PTS vol V p 174; “initial” for “directed”, as at SN 36.11, tr. PTS vol IV p 146) In my experience, “one-pointedness” occurs when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a singular location in the body, and a person “lays hold of one-pointedness” when they remain awake as the singular location shifts. Gautama described the “first trance” as having feelings of zest and ease, and he prescribed the extension of those feelings: … (a person) steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease. (AN 5.28, tr. PTS vol. III pp 18-19) Words like “steeps” and “drenches” convey that the weight of the body accompanies the feelings of zest and ease. The weight of the body sensed at a particular point in the body can shift the body’s center of gravity, and a shift in the body’s center of gravity can result in what Moshe Feldenkrais termed “reflex movement”. Feldenkrais described how “reflex movement” can be engaged in standing up from a chair: …When the center of gravity has really moved forward over the feet a reflex movement will originate in the old nervous system and straighten the legs; this automatic movement will not be felt as an effort at all. (“Awareness Through Movement”, Moshe Feldenkrais, p 78) “Drenching” the body “so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded” with zest and ease allows the weight of the body to effect “reflex movement” in the activity of the body, wherever “one-pointedness” takes place. In falling asleep, the mind can sometimes react to hypnagogic sleep paralysis with an attempt to reassert control over the muscles of the body, causing a “hypnic jerk”. The extension of a weighted zest and ease can pre-empt the tendency to reassert voluntary control in the induction of concentration, and make possible a conscious experience of “reflex movement” in inhalation and exhalation. (Just to Sit) Regarding "one-pointedness of mind" moving to the MDT: I remind myself that the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation tends toward coordination by the free placement of consciousness, and look for ease. (Applying the Pali Instructions) The practice you mention that really opened your heart, "holding in mind that I would love everyone even if they continued harming", is Gautama's extension of the mind of compassion: [One] dwells, having suffused the first quarter [of the world] with friendliness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of friendliness that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. [One] dwells having suffused the first quarter with a mind of compassion… with a mind of sympathetic joy… with a mind of equanimity that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. (MN 7, tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 48) Gautama said that “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of the mind of compassion was the first of the further concentrations, a concentration he called “the plane of infinite ether” (MN 111; tr. Pali Text Society vol III p 79). (The Inconceivable Nature of the Wind) Wouldja believe, I have a book now, A Natural Mindfulness. Also downloadable for free from my website.

lantern out. Cat out! out of the bag, disappeared but wait--what's that rub!

I don't know why that made me laugh... "T'aint funny, McGee!"

My summary of the mindfulness he described as his own, both before and after enlightenment, would be: 1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation; 2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation; 3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation; 4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation. (Applying the Pali Instructions) That last is similar to your "stand above the minding".

(Omori) Sogen wrote: … It may be the least trouble to say as a general precaution that strength should be allowed to come to fullness naturally as one becomes proficient in sitting. We should sit so that our energy increases of itself and brims over… (“An Introduction to Zen Training: A Translation of Sanzen Nyumon”, Omori Sogen, tr. Dogen Hosokawa and Roy Yoshimoto, Tuttle Publishing, p 59.) Omori quoted one Hida Haramitsu: We should balance the power of the hara (area below the navel) and the koshi (area at the rear of the pelvis) and maintain equilibrium of the seated body by bringing the center of the body’s weight in line with the center of the triangular base of the seated body. (Hida Haramitsu, “Nikon no Shimei” [“Mission of Japan”], parentheticals added; referenced without publisher and date in "An Introduction to Zen Training, above) The equilibrium that Haramitsu described can follow a necessity of breath that places consciousness in the lower abdomen, given a feeling of ease at the point of consciousness and the experience of gravity as the source of activity and stretch. I’m partial to Yuanwu’s “turning to the left, turning to the right, following up behind” (“The Blue Cliff Record” Case 17, tr Cleary & Cleary). If I relax the muscles of the lower abdomen and the muscles behind the pelvis, and calm the stretch of ligaments between the pelvis and the sacrum, gravity can yield a “turning to the left, turning to the right”. “Following up behind” I believe refers to support engaged behind the sacrum and spine: There is… a possible mechanism of support for the spine from the displacement of the fascia behind the spine, a displacement that may depend on a push on the fascia behind the sacrum by the bulk of the extensor muscles, as they contract. There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the movement of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages. (Applying the Pali Instructions)