Bultasa Zen Group

Zen Master Huang Po:

Thus, the mind of the Bodhisattva is like the Void and everything is relinquished by it. When thoughts of the past cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the past. When thoughts of the present cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the present. When thoughts of the future cannot be taken hold of, that is relinquishment of the future. This is called utter relinquishment of Triple Time.

(from The Zen teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld)

photo by Harold Rail

Zen Master Seung Sahn:

Human life has no meaning, no reason, and no choice. But we have our practice to help us understand our true self. Then we can change no meaning to great meaning, which means great love. We can change no reason to great reason, which means great compassion. Finally, we can change no choice to great choice, which means great vow and the Bodhisattva way.

photo by Rail

Outdoor practice!

Buddha-Nature
©2024•Harold Rail Photography

Magic Eye 😊

Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman):

Who is it that brushes your teeth? Who is it that puts on your pajamas (if you wear pajamas)? Who is that puts on your shoes (I'm sure you wear shoes)? Who is it that walks down the street? Who is it that's sitting here right now on Zoom? Who is that person? That's a very important question.

(from a 2024 dharma talk)

photo by Rail

Tim Lerch JDPSN:

The truth is, we don't know what happens when we die. The Buddhist teaching about death can be helpful in that it gives us a good feeling, some sense of comfort in this mystery. This framework that can be helpful in the grieving process, but the Buddha taught that originally there is no life or death, our true self is infinite in time and space. Don't Know Mind doesn't have a beginning or an ending. Zen Master Seung Sahn's teaching is to wake up in this moment and attain our true nature. When we keep a Don't Know Mind we are addressing the big question of life and death moment to moment.... whenever anybody dies, they are teaching us that we must wake up, because our lives only occur in this moment [snaps fingers]. Just that.

We don't actually have a thing called a "life." When we talk about our lives we are usually referring to what happened in the past or speculating about what might happen in the future. But that is only thinking about what has already happened, already gone, or what may never happen. In Zen we say, "The past is already dead, and the future is just a dream." In the midst of all that talking and thinking about our so-called lives we overlook something? this moment. This moment is the only place where anything that we might call "our life" is actually happening. Indeed, the poignant meaning of someone dying is: wake up now!

(from a talk in 2003)

photo by Rai

We had a such a great turnout on Sunday to the first session of our Introduction to Zen Buddhism series. Jess provided an overview of the Buddha’s life. Amari discussed the 4 Nobel truths. Alan summarized the Noble eightfold path. And Paul gave us a fascinating insight into the 3 marks of existence. We’re excited to see you all at our next practice!

Hi Dharma friends!

Just a couple of gentle reminders of some upcoming events at Bultasa Zen.

Tonight we have Wednesday Night Zen practice from 7 - 8.30pm.

On Sunday April 7th we will have regular practice at 10am. Afterwards at 1pm, we will host the first session of our teaching Series "At the Great Gate: A Beginner's Journey into Zen Buddhism". The first session focuses on the life of Shakyamuni Buddha, his teachings and some brief, lightly guided meditation practice. Q & A and refreshments to follow. Free to all but donations are accepted and very much appreciated!

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Bultasa Zen

“The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step.”
― Zen Master Seung Sahn

Sometimes we think we don’t understand because we just haven’t read the right book yet. Somewhere, at some library, there must be a book that will solve all my problems. It will let me understand what I really need. But Buddha didn’t do that. Instead, he went to sit underneath a tree. You may think that’s really stupid. Who would go and sit underneath a tree? Why do that?
Buddha knew that the answers to these questions are somewhere inside. Actually, “go and sit underneath a tree” does not mean “go and sit underneath a tree.” The way to sit underneath a tree is to start looking inside. We are exactly like the Buddha because, for us, too, the answer lies inside. We all know the Buddha (and Zen, also) always asks the question: what am I? What am I? But it’s very interesting, if you ask that question, Zen does not have the answer. It doesn’t, but you do, inside. So you and the Buddha are the same. Just look inside.
Zen means finding your true self and helping our world. Very simple! Zen Buddhism is not complicated at all. You may be very stupid or very smart—that doesn’t make any difference. Inside, everybody has this original Buddha nature. Inside. So our job is to find that and help this world. Very simple. —Zen Master Dae Kwang

Hands & Eyes
By Jesse Cardin
It’s Alive! Zen is a home for Zen meditation and koans in San Antonio, Texas
https://itsalivezen.org/

Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does the bodhisattva of great compassion use all those hands and eyes?”Daowu answered, “It’s like feeling behind you for a pillow in the middle of the night.”“I understand.”“What do you understand?”“The whole body is hands and eyes.”“That’s very well expressed, but it only says 80%.”“What would you say, older brother?”“All through the body are hands and eyes.”
– Blue Cliff Record, Case 89

As I drive to work in the dull glow of the sun’s first yawn, a small wild hare sprints across the road. We’ve been meeting like this most mornings for some time now.Sometimes I feel the rain before it comes and on occasion I discover I know things about people that I have no way of knowing. The deer outside my house munch on leaves and when they crane their necks to regard me with their dark eyes, there is a minor startle as I feel them noticing me.

This world of ours is deeply in love. Trees converse about the weather and trade nutrients while subatomic particles perform for us when we look at them and have long-distance relationships with each other. What we call empathy–that socially adaptive th*****me between humans and neurons–isn’t a phenomenon of its own so much as an indicator of a fundamental operating principle of reality.

The mind is a leaky vessel by nature. We tell ourselves mostly that we move through the world in daylight, but we laugh without knowing why and hurt when we see injustices done to others. Love at first sight is real, but we depend unfairly on the unwieldy metrics of time and circumstance to carve away the protective lacquer of cynicism.

When explanations run dry, a dark space inside is revealed, but we need not be afraid of the glowing eyes that peer out at us. This is the secret meeting place between our tiny, tender hearts and the heart of the universe, a cosmic speakeasy where metaphor is conceived below the censuring squeeze of the ego.

There are so many things about this life that we can’t know, but if we listen closely enough there are clues—a memory, a shred of dream, a line from a poem or song repeating itself, entreating us to listen closer, listen closer, do not disregard us. This is the universe talking to itself, written in the cipher of our imagination.

We need each other and we must have each other, not out of obligation or for survival but because existence itself depends on it. We are alive because the pine trees smell their sharp odor through our nostrils, because the sun feels itself warming our faces and the thunder clouds shudder at feeling their rumble in our chests. We exist for the world and it for us, each inside the other.

So much sensation is appearing in each moment that we cannot possibly perceive all of it, and yet we manage to eat and make love and feel the afternoon breeze on our necks. How is this so? There is a drum playing somewhere and we dance a somnolent waltz even though we can’t hear it; countless hands pass us along while we slumber.

We have constructed metropolises within ourselves to block out what cannot and need not be ignored. We build roads where there were well-worn already paths and then tell ourselves we have lost the way. But if we reach inside and forget deeply enough, we can remember the silent language of our ancestors.

The way the trees talk with the stars and the wind with the moon calls us back to the warm embrace of the home we never left.
 Kwan Yin Aizuwakamatsu ©2009•haroldrail

"Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky." Quote by Zen Master Seung Sahn. See more quotes: https://bit.ly/3nxO64Y

Zen Master Bon Hae (Judy Roitman):

People who were raised in monotheistic religion, we think of everybody as an individual. And so we think it's our job to do everything to everything and then we give up. But in Mahayana Buddhism, there's this deep, deep, deep, deep interconnection. It's like the fingers of the hand. They look like they're separate, and that they're operating separately. But they're not. So each of us, to stretch the metaphor, is a finger on the cosmic hand. And that means that anything we can do, anything we can do, is helping. Like water from a fire hose — each little drop is nothing, but together…

Just keep awake, see what you can do. And open your heart to all the suffering, to all the suffering. Don't stand there and think, Oh, your suffering isn't as much as their suffering. Don't do that… How can we open our hearts? And how can we hear each other? It's non trivial, as we say in mathematics. But that's our job. And practice gives us the strong center that allows us to do that, that doesn't get us caught up in our own stories, in our own fabrications in our own likes, and our dislikes and our fears. Practice is the thing that gives us this real strength, not, you know, this kind of strength [makes a muscular pose], but real inner strength so that we can take what comes and we can give what's appropriate.

We had an incredible experience at the kido chanting retreat yesterday at Bultasa Zen. Great energy! Clear minds!