{"id":387,"date":"2009-01-15T16:54:51","date_gmt":"2009-01-15T16:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/01\/hardcore-dharma-beginning-all-over-again.html"},"modified":"2009-01-15T16:54:51","modified_gmt":"2009-01-15T16:54:51","slug":"hardcore-dharma-beginning-all-over-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/01\/hardcore-dharma-beginning-all-over-again.html","title":{"rendered":"Hardcore Dharma: Beginning all over again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday January 10th, midst a splattering of snow, Hardcore Dharma recommenced for a second, subsequent term.\u00a0 This time around we\u2019ll be working book by book as opposed to subject by subject.\u00a0 Like last time, we\u2019ll be reading texts from the three major schools of Buddhism: Zen, Theravaden and Tibetan.
\nThe first text we\u2019re working with is Shunryu Suzuki\u2019s Zen Mind, Beginner Mind<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019ll admit, when I first got the syllabus for the class I was a little disappointed by the choice.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had this book since I was 19, long before I knew Buddhism was anything other than monks, suffering and a belief in reincarnation.\u00a0 It was assigned, along with the Epictetus\u2019 Art of Living<\/em> by an acting teacher when I was a sophomore in college.\u00a0 I artistically connected immediately to the idea that \u201cin the beginner\u2019s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert\u2019s, there are few\u201d but otherwise I couldn\u2019t identify with text.\u00a0 It felt opaque and over-simplistic.\u00a0 It felt like the text that Matt Groening referenced whenever he brought a stock character Zen monk into an episode of The Simpsons.\u00a0
\nSo guess what I realized reading then discussing Zen Mind, Beginner\u2019s Mind <\/em>after a couple years of practice and study under my belt?\u00a0 Well I realized that the book is, um, not so much for know-nothing-about-dharma\u00a0\u201cbeginners.\u201d\u00a0 Shunryu Suzuki\u2019s Soto Zen perspective is presented in deceptively simple prose that, when investigated, presents some complexly compelling dharma.\u00a0 As least it did for me.
\nShunryu Suzuki is a spiritual descendent of Dogen Zenji, who brought Soto Zen Buddhism to Japan in the 13th century.\u00a0 Dogen\u2019s main question about Buddhism related to Buddha Nature.\u00a0 He wanted to understand why, if everyone had Buddha nature, the practice of meditation was necessary.\u00a0 He came to the conclusion that Buddha Nature *is* the practice.\u00a0 Huh.\u00a0 Zen.\u00a0 In 1962 Suzuki founded the infamous San Francisco Zen Center.\u00a0 According to \u201cZM, BM\u201ds introduction, he came to the US for only a visit but then decided to stay because he was so impressed with the open quality of his American student\u2019s mind.\u00a0 Oh baby boomers.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame that we\u2019ve turned the 60\u2019s into one big advertising campaign, because it seems like there were times when you were authentically interesting.
\nZen Mind, Beginner\u2019s Mind<\/em> is a collection of Suzuki\u2019s talks.\u00a0 Some ideas we discussed in class have already been brought up by fellow bloggers this week.\u00a0 Ellen Scordato\u2019s post & subsequent comments<\/a> has a great discussion about chittamatra, or the Mind-Only school of Buddhism.\u00a0 Buddhistfemme\u2019s post<\/a> discusses the very famous \u201cbig pasture\u201d Suzuki quotation \u2013 that is, if you want your sheep (friends, mind, fowl, etc.) to behave, then you need to give them lots of room, try not to control them, encourage them to be, as he says, \u201cmischievous.\u201d\u00a0 Free-range emotional management, a humane alternative brought to you by the spiritual dynasty of Dogen Zenjii.
\nI<\/em> was struck both in reading and in class by the quotation Ethan cited while we were meditating: \u201cWhat we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.\u201d\u00a0 The concept of what I think of as \u201cI\u201d as a continually evolving alchemy between my perception and my actions is not new to me.\u00a0 The fact that this could be discovered in sitting practice so directly (in that the in-breath is the physical manifestation of perception and the out breath the physical manifestation of action) feels revelatory.\u00a0 And I must say, in a very spiritually materialistic way planting this quotation in my mind before sitting has prompted some rad sitting sessions this week and some nice moments of clarity in walking talking life practice.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go as far to say it\u2019s beginner-ing up some know-it-all aspects of my pseudo-expert mind.
\nZen Mind<\/em> is a Buddhist classic and I\u2019m sure many folks, in and out of class, have given it a once over.\u00a0 What are your thoughts?\u00a0 How do you feel about the tone of Soto Zen that Suzuki is presenting in general?\u00a0 I like it when I can read it in the context of a class, with a teacher and other folks to discuss it with, but I\u2019m still a bit skeptical of that inscrutable Zen rhetoric.\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 What do you think about Zen\u2019s emphasis on physical formality in contrast to their \u201cbig pasture\u201d mind?\u00a0 Do you think that\u00a0Zen Mind, Beginner\u2019s Mind<\/em> is more of an intermediate read then its title suggests?\u00a0
\nIn related news, “Swinging Doors”\u00a0happens to be\u00a0one of my favorite Merle Haggard songs.\u00a0 I urge you to please.\u00a0 Enjoy.
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kH1iEVXM_I0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday January 10th, midst a splattering of snow, Hardcore Dharma recommenced for a second, subsequent term.\u00a0 This time around we\u2019ll be working book by book as opposed to subject by subject.\u00a0 Like last time, we\u2019ll be reading texts from the three major schools of Buddhism: Zen, Theravaden and Tibetan. The first text we\u2019re working with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\nHardcore Dharma: Beginning all over again - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/01\/hardcore-dharma-beginning-all-over-again.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hardcore Dharma: Beginning all over again - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saturday January 10th, midst a splattering of snow, Hardcore Dharma recommenced for a second, subsequent term.\u00a0 This time around we\u2019ll be working book by book as opposed to subject by subject.\u00a0 Like last time, we\u2019ll be reading texts from the three major schools of Buddhism: Zen, Theravaden and Tibetan. 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