Seems I can't get away from points these days. Everywhere they intend. In Zen we speak of pointing toward something, a gesture of implication, dot connecting if you will. This sprang from my hearing how one got disappointed..."I'm not hurt, I'm just disappointed." It is not the way IT should be so I am vexed. I can't understand IT or you for that matter! How can anything be not what it is? Well, because it is not what I want it to be!
We all stand at the crossroad of moment and expectation thousands of time a day. What is there in each moment? For one thing a stack of stuff seen but primarily a kalpa of things not seen. How can this be we protest, how can this happen to me-suffering arises. Suffering is a disappointment to many who see Buddhism as too suffering-centered. Here is one example. In talking with people interested in meditation they often wish to obliterate suffering and be in a state of high-bliss. Charlie Brown's life-long fancy of Lucy not pulling the football away at the last second allowing a fifty-yard down field kick as compared to feet-flying head over heals crashing down to Earth flat on his back example.
This is being attached to only one outcome at the expense of umpteen possibilities. Hence the probability of being disappointed is high and compounded by our not adjusting for conditions and variables. However, this maybe the point. Constant awareness calibration is adjusting to conditions and variables using the idea of not working to parry. We are disappointed because we cannot see far enough into the future to see the long-term implication of a momentary slight.
Life is calibrating feelings and behavior to conditions and variables dancing anew life instant after instant. It is Charlie Brown in full awareness (mindfulness) racing toward the football full of excitement
while knowing about disappointment in his marrow seeing clearly Lucy beginning to pull the football away, smiling he runs past her straight into his appointment with the glee of his speed...
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dharma Talk for Tuesday August 29, 2017 is "DISAPPOINTMENT. " Dokusan will be offered.
As continued outreach in the Falmouth community, I will be working on a "Connectivity and Relationships" as a central feature of a group discussion fellowship on remaining sober and not using, as a path to address alcohol and drug abuse. More about this as it unfolds...
DATES SENSEI IS AWAY: Sangha Services will be lead by different members who have taken Jukai.
In November I will be away on a 30 day Priest's Ango or teaching sesshin, but will Skype in Dharma Talks...
November 7, 14, 21 and 28
December 5
Our Beach sitting on the Bike-Path at Oyster Pond and Surf Drive has begun, from 6:30AM until 7:00AM then we all go to PIE-IN-THE SKY in Woods Hole for coffee.
1. Like String for Beads, is a compilation of my Dharma talks, notes, poems and Facebook comments I have produced over the last five years. Special thanks to Enjitsu-san Chris Charyk for pulling the pieces together in this book! There will be copies available every Tuesday night, or let me know if you want me to mail you a copy. The book is $15 per copy.
2. Visit our new library named for Diane “Yugen” Tucker. The cart was a donation to the Sangha by Kyoshin Elin Kinney as Dana for her Jukai on November 5, 2016…many bows! The books will be added over the next few weeks and Kyoshin-ni has agreed to be our Librarian. A donation of $1 is recommend to check out books and magazines for up to three weeks. It really is a cute cart drop-by and see it soon. Oh, we wheel it out each Tuesdays and for zazenkai and sesshin, or if you would like to see if we have a book you want, get in touch with Elin <elinkinney@gmail.com>.
3. Meditation is also held each TUESDAY at 10:00AM at the Falmouth Senior Center.
4. Last night the Buddhist Book Bunch met and finished discussing Being Upright which we found to be practical and inspirational. Look for a copy in our rolling yellow library. (Thanks Phil!) At the meeting, Sensei announced our summer book. Remember that the Falmouth Soto Zen Buddhist Book Bunch does not hold meetings from June to August and we will resume our monthly meetings in September.
5. Over the summer, we invite you to read, The Fruitful Darkness by Joan Halifax. Grove Press describes the book published originally in 1993 as: Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into "the fruitful darkness” --the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations--from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating "an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new” (Peter Matthiessen). Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover "the interconnectedness of all life,” and to regain life’s sacredness.We will discuss The Fruitful Darkness at our meeting on September 24th from 6:30-8:00 at 41 Carol Avenue in East Falmouth.Gassho~Koin-ni (Sue)
6. Our Zendo is open at 6:30PM (good time for newcomers to get aquatinted) at the UUFF, 840 Sandwich Road, for our weekly service which starts at 7:00PM. Also feel free to stay afterwards to chat and or ask questions...