Mark Foote

Tell 'em to stop, stirling--make 'em stop! The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you–begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain to it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifested in the Buddhas. ("The Zen Teaching of Huang Po On the Transmission of Mind", tr. John Blofeld, Part One)

a true life-saver but what's a mother to do when the smile runs out?

In "Awareness Through Movement", Moshe Feldenkrais wrote: In most cases where an action is linked to a strong desire, the efficiency of the action may be improved by separating the aim from the means of achieving it. A motorist in a desperate hurry to reach his destination, for instance, will fare better if he entrusts the wheel to a man who is a good driver but not desperate to reach the destination in time. Serious obstacles to performance may occur when both the action and the achievement of the aim depend on the old section of the nervous system--old in the evolutionary sense--over which our control is involuntary. These actions might include sex, falling asleep, or evacuation of the bowels. The action may be performed as if the aim were the means, and sometimes as though the means were the aim. (HarperSanFrancisco paperback, 1990, pp 82-83) Feldenkrais used getting up out of a chair to illustrate his method of separating action from achievement of the aim. A recap, from a post I'm composing now for my own site: Moshe Feldenkrais wrote of how people can be unaware that they actually hold their breath in getting up from a chair. He explained why that is so: The tendency to hold one’s breath is instinctive, part of an attempt to prevent the establishment of shearing stresses or forces likely to shift the vertebrae horizontally, out of the vertical alignment of the spinal column that they constitute. (ibid, p 83) Feldenkrais described how the tendency to hold one’s breath in standing can be overcome: …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. (ibid, p 78) Feldenkrais stipulated, there must be “no muscular effort deriving from voluntary control”: … 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) My friends, how do you contact "reflex movement in the old nervous system", so as to keep your action separate from the achievement of the aim?

The card-carrying Theravadin monks are not allowed to kill them (so they get the novices to clean the water tanks). Learned that from Tim Ward's book, "The Great Dragon's Fleas". Good book, full of odd bits and pieces he gathered in traveling Southeast Asia in search of wisdom (and not really finding it).

I just let it be consciousness retained with place place retained with mind place retained with mind free after all, with it all going fishing, then

"(the) thinkative mind and mental habits is usually what we take to be 'us'"... It were better… if the untaught manyfolk approached this body, child of the four great elements, as the self rather than the mind. Why so? Seen is it… how this body, child of the four great elements, persists for a year, persists for two years, persists for three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty years, persists for forty, for fifty years, persists for a hundred years and even longer. But this… that we call thought, that we call mind, that we call consciousness, that arises as one thing, ceases as another, whether by night or by day. (SN 12.61, tr. Pali Text Society vol II p 66) Gautama spoke in many lectures about his enlightenment, which took place in or after the fourth or the final concentration, depending on the lecture, but was really a matter of "profound knowledge" or "intuitive wisdom" (MN 70) , a kind of gnosis that followed his witness of "past habitations" and "future arisings". With his enlightenment, he said, the three cankers were no longer present in him, they were like palm trees that had been cut off at the root, never to grow again. The cankers: The three “cankers” were said to be three cravings: “craving for the life of sense”, “craving for becoming”, and “craving for not-becoming” (DN 22; PTS vol. ii p 340). When the cankers are “destroyed”, the roots of the craving for sense-pleasures, the roots of the craving “to continue, to survive, to be” (tr. “bhava”, Bhikkyu Sujato), and the roots of the craving not “to be” (the craving for the ignorance of being) are destroyed. (One Way or Another) Where the confusion comes in: Gautama’s advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136). Nevertheless, activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school. (ibid)

"kings deep" is just a tad over five syllables... whole world, just one place

My favorite quote, about thought: As (one) abides in body contemplating body, either some bodily object arises, or bodily discomfort or drowsiness of mind scatters (one’s) thoughts abroad to externals. Thereupon… (one’s) attention should be directed to some pleasurable object of thought. As (one) thus directs it to some pleasurable object of thought, delight springs up in (one’s being). In (one), thus delighted, arises zest. Full of zest (one’s) body is calmed down. With body so calmed (one) experiences ease. The mind of one at ease is concentrated. (One) thus reflects: The aim on which I set my mind I have attained. Come, let me withdraw my mind [from pleasurable object of thought]. So (one) withdraws (one’s) mind therefrom, and neither starts nor carries on thought-process. Thus (one) is fully conscious: I am without thought initial or sustained. I am inwardly mindful. I am at ease. (Gautama repeats the above for “As (one) contemplates feelings in feelings…”, “… mind in mind…”, “… mind-states in mind-states, either some mental object arises, or…”) Such is the practice for the direction of mind. And what… is the practice for the non-direction of mind? (First,) by not directing (one’s) mind to externals, (one) is fully aware: My mind is not directed to externals. Then (one) is fully aware: My mind is not concentrated either on what is before or on what is behind, but it is set free, it is undirected. Then (one) is fully aware: In body contemplating body I abide, ardent, composed and mindful. I am at ease. And (one) does the same with regard to feelings… to mind… and mind-states. Thus (one) is fully aware: In mind-states contemplating mind-states I abide, ardent, composed and mindful. I am at ease. This is the practice for the non-direction of mind. (SN 47.10, tr. Pali Text Society vol. V pp134-136)

That's interesting. To what end, do you direct the breath?

I know telling stories is pretty unpopular here on Dao Bums, so here goes... Back when I lived above Hamburger Mary's in San Francisco, I met the former drummer of the Avengers, one of the first San Francisco punk bands. Dan turned me on to a bootleg tape of Joy Division, or what he said was a bootleg tape, then he borrowed some money. Poor Dan, got hit by an MG he didn't see when he stepped out between two parked cars in the Panhandle, he was still walking with a cane years later. The lead singer of Joy Division hung himself, very dramatically. The rest of the band went on to form New Order, and unlike Joy Division, New Order was a success. Let's see if I can find a Joy Division video that will embed, for you. Here's one:

Given a presence of mind that can “hold consciousness by itself”, activity in the body begins to coordinate by virtue of the sense of place associated with consciousness. A relationship between the free location of consciousness and activity in the body comes forward, and as that relationship comes forward, “practice occurs”. Through such practice, the placement of consciousness is manifested in the activity of the body. This is too complicated, IMHO. It's all really simple. No places, relationships, activities, or placement. This moment just is, and there is a simple awareness of that which belongs to no-one and no-thing - pervades the field of phenomena. Arriving at this simple understanding is hard for us humans, especially those of us with the burden of education. It took me years to realized what a handicap it was for me. Is Dogen saying something there, when he says "find your place where you are", when he says "practice occurs", and when he says "actualizing the fundamental point"? What's the difference between "just sitting" on the couch watching the Simpsons, and the "just sitting" that is shikantaza? The Theravada doesn't interest me. The first four Nikayas of the Pali Canon interest me, as do the writings of Yuanwu and Dogen.

If I said Joy Division was a great band, would that be an unpopular opinion? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8lgsVXiXZg&list=RDg8lgsVXiXZg&start_radio=1#t=20s The link could not be embedded because www.youtube.com does not allow embedding of that video. Ok, I know the lead singer of New Order was not a member of Joy Division. Still, if I said New Order was a great band, I fear that would not be an unpopular opinion.

dead men lie, don't sit have a cup of tea; living... have a cup of tea

reverse breating, golden living men sit, don't lie down dead men lie, don't sit (Dead Man's Zazen 生夾坐不臥 While living, one sits up and lies not, 死去臥不坐 When dead, one lies and sits not; 元是臭骨頭 A set of ill-smelling skeleton! 何爲立功課 What is the use of toiling and moiling so? A gâthâ by Hui-neng, T'an-ching)