Comments Made to Articles in Tricycle Magazine 01, 09/13/2024

01) The Buddhist approach is sooooo intellectual, logical, reasonable, left-brained, my mind-body recoils in revolt to the very idea. What becomes of “go with the flow”? Of spontaneity? Of intuition? Here’s one for you: There is no path! There is no journey! There is no destination! There is only ONLY doing what is called for here, now. Being/doing (One thing!) what the moment needs us to be/do! Thinking it out beforehand and applying it as one might follow a recipe for oatmeal-cranberry cookies, is so to miss engaging the moment in emptiness/stillness/silence (One thing) and allowing what is called for to arise unbidden in the silence and to direct our action intuitively in the field of action, no matter what, moment to moment, all our life long

02) A good portion of knowing is trusting and not needing reassurance that we are doing it “right.” Action in one moment has a way of self-correcting in future moments. And no one is keeping score. Liberation is being free to do what we think is called for and making adjustments as needed in the next situation as it arises, and the ones after that.

03). Unconditional love. The sine qua non of a life well-lived. Yet, drawing lines, setting limits, imposing sanctions, demanding respect for/obedience to The Rules, imposes conditions on love or allows unpardonable behavior in the name of love. Christians talk about God’s unconditional love, yet also say God will send us straight to hell if we don’t believe it. When love becomes permissiveness how loving is that? Love says, “NO!” and enforces it by whatever means necessary to establish legitimate limits. How Buddhist can we be without sitting? Without mantras? Without honoring the Dharma? Without enforcing The Rules? Requiring submission to our way of doing things? Loving requires us to be unloving time after time. With apologies to Shel Silverstein: “Some kinds of love are the kind of love that love is all about, and some kinds of love are the kind of love we all could do without.”

04) Attending what needs to be attended. Doing what needs to be done. Attuned to what is called for. In each situation as it arises. In all circumstances that come along. How Zen is all of that! That is all Zen is! Who could ask for anything more. Doing here, now the way here, now needs to be done!

05) “The highest enlightenment.” Does that phrase not strike you as ridiculous? How many variations of enlightenment are there? Who are we kidding, if not ourselves? And what is enlightenment going to do for us? What is beyond doing what is called for in each situation as it arises through all the circumstances there may be–when/where/how it needs to be done, no matter what, for as long as there are situations and circumstances? If we are going to strive for something, why not that instead of enlightenment? And if we are not to strive for anything, that leaves us with striving not to strive, and that, too, is ridiculous. It’s all a merry-go-round-and-round. No wonder the Buddha was not a Buddhist!

06) Buddhism’s core problem is thinking too much about thinking and not-thinking. It is a left-brain operation all the way around the merry-go-round-and-round. Logical to a fault. Reasonable from start to finish. It spins off Zen in an attempt to not take itself seriously, but it brings the meditation cushions along with it, just in case. Enlightenment is laughing at the entire show and walking off to take a nap, or have a cup of coffee, and a regular life of doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, and letting that be that.

07) It’s built to wear us down. We survive by refusing to take it seriously–in a “The situation is hopeless, but not serious,” kind of way. That means not caring what our chances are. And being fueled/funded by the truly Holy Trinity within: Our original nature (Sometimes referred to as our “Buddha Nature,” or our “Christ Nature.” Our innate virtues–the things we do best and enjoy/love doing most. And our intrinsic intuition–that which knows the truth and leads us in the way of truth through all situations and circumstances no matter what all our life long. In the intimate company of the Holy Three, we have it made. Oh, and don’t forget the Wailing Wall where we carry all our grief, mourning and suffering, and find what it takes to keep on meeting the day, every day.

08) Getting to the farther shore and being where we are (one thing, not two). Doing what is called for in each situation as it arises is all that is asked of each of us. No opinions. No expectations. No plan. No agenda. Just seeing/knowing/doing/being (one thing, not four).

09) Equanimity is denial. What isn’t? Seeing things as they are would give us vertigo. Things are in constant flux. Nothing is steady. Nothing lasts. “The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod–yet, let us pray for but one thing, the marvelous peace of God!”–William Alexander Percy. What do we do with all of it? Make OUR peace with all of it? Live with things as they are without throwing up? Denial is the only solution to life out of hand, when the world “is too much for us late and soon”! “So what? Who cares? What difference does it make?” “Anne, eat your breakfast. Dan, take your medicine. Life must go on. I forget just why.”– Edna St. Vincent Millay

10) “The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod. Yet, let us pray for but one thing: The marvelous peace of God”– William Alexander Percy “They Cast Their Nets in Galilee” We find our consolation in meeting the moment as it needs to be met, and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises.

11) “Without hope, without witness, without reward–virtue is only virtue in extremis. Only in darkness are we revealed. Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit.” — Steven Moffat, writing for Nardole in Doctor Who, Season 1001, Ep. 6, “Extremis.”

12) “It is a very interesting shift in perspective, that is all it is. Life throws up around us the distractions that abound, and out of this you find the immovable center, and you can survive anything. This is the quest for the inner life that will enable you to float down the stream like living human beings, and that is what must be done.” — Source unknown.

13) Denial is our only hope. Hope? Did someone just say “Hope”? I was just thinking about hope! Hope is denial’s other side. The eternal duality is One. Denial cannot be denied. Just like projection cannot be perceived. Projection and denial and hope are the holy trinity of mindfulness. Is it hope or is it denial? Or projection? We will never get to the bottom of it. It could always be either or both or all three. Where does that leave us? Laughing at the idea of clarity! Knowing! Liberation! Enlightenment! The most we can know is to not take any of it seriously, and to live out of our intrinsic intuition in meeting each situation as it arises and doing what is called for no matter what all our life long, realizing that is the best we can do!

14) Politics is the place where what matters most is always at stake. When the emancipation proclamation declared “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free,” it was a political act that freed the people. And when the US government was enforcing genocide against Native Americans, it was the failure of politics to do what was right by the innocent people being murdered and persecuted because they were in the path of the wealthy becoming wealthier within the forces of colonization. Where were the voices of conscience and the servants of Liberty, Justice, Equality, Truth then/there? Where are they here/now? We have to embody the spirituality we embrace. We cannot sit still and silent when the times are calling for action and opposition to the drift into the darkness of an authoritarian regime. Chanting the Dharma and the Sutras with “right forever on the scaffold and wrong forever on the throne” is no way to serve/honor the cause of Liberation and Enlightenment in supporting the end of freedom and the desecration of truth.

15) This is beautifully, wonderfully, perfectly done! “Our wisest actions arise from full presence with all that is moving through us.” We of “the Middle Way,” stand/live in the middle between opposites at war with each other, calling out the horrendously unthinkable spewing forth from all that surrounds us–not caring what our chances are–in opposition to madness from all directions, saying with our immovable presence, with silence shattering the ruthless absurdity of endless war: Wake Up! End your hatred, anger, and fear! Stop the killing! Sit down! Be quiet! Find the ways that make for peace! Here! Now! No more stupidity! No more hostility! No more retribution! Live in the service of peaceful resolution of all your disagreement and discord! It is imperative that you do so! Here! Now!

16) This is “the other shore.” We are the Buddha. Being saved is as simple as changing our mind about the way things are and the way they need to be. Our original nature is Buddha-nature. Our innate virtues–the things we do best and love/enjoy doing most–are Buddha-virtues. Our intrinsic intuition is the way of enlightenment, awakening, liberation. We have all we need right here, right now. All we have to do is open our minds along with our eyes–and “like that” “It’s a new world Golda!”

17) How to get there and stay there? Not by thinking! How do you stop/avoid thinking? Awareness, awareness, awareness! Of here, now! What’s what, here, now? Drop into the emptiness, stillness, silence–ONE thing, not three! And wait, watching, listening to what’s there with you in the emptiness, stillness, silence. Wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear, being present with and open to what is present with you in the emptiness, stillness, silence… Looking for what spontaneously arises in the silence, and looking closer when it does…and following where it leads.

18) “We can know what we want, but we cannot want what we want–we cannot will ourselves to want what we do not want.” Where does wanting come from? What does wanting know? How does wanting get to the place of directing our life? Do a meditation on getting to the bottom of wanting and knowing what’s there.

19) Our will is never free enough to will what to want (Our wanting has a mind of its own), and we are always free enough “to get up and do what needs to be done,” when, where and how it needs to be done, all our life long, no matter what. So, what’s the problem?

20) “The game plays the player,” and the song sings the singer, and the dance dances the dancer, and we are all free to do what needs to be done, when, where and how it needs to be done, in each moment as it arises, no matter what, all our life long. All it takes is getting out of the way with our ideas, our wants, wishes, desires, fears, sense of duty and obligation, and embrace the moment, the here, now, in doing what is called for with the gifts that are ours to offer, anyway, nevertheless, even so, in every here, now that comes our way–changing the baby’s diaper the way the baby’s diaper needs to be changed, washing the dishes the way the dishes need to be washed, etc. world without end.

21) We can gauge our degree of indoctrination by the number of questions we do not allow ourselves to ask, or permit others to ask. The rule for realization is simple: Ask all of the questions that beg to be asked–say all of the things that cry out to be said–and do not stop until all has been asked and said. If we are tempted to “not go there,” go there with all your fierce dedication to the task, anyway, nevertheless, even so, and let the outcome be the outcome (Knowing there are no outcomes, just more paths to follow, asking, seeking, knocking, exploring, knowing that, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “what we are searching for lies far back in the darkest corner of the cave we most don’t want to enter.”

22) Suffering! Happiness! Want! Don’t Want! — Exactly what does wanting know? Remember your first marriage? And your second? Ditch wanting! Dump wanting! And suffering? It is a frame of mind, a point of view, an attitude, a way of seeing what we look at! Change your mind and suffering disappears! And happiness? Same thing. A way of looking at what’s what. And growing up? It is nothing more than changing our mind about what is important–about what matters most. And what is that? Doing what needs to be done, where it needs to be done, how it needs to be done, when it needs to be done, no matter what, moment by moment, all our life long. “Just get in there and do your thing and let the outcome be the outcome–and since there are no outcomes, just more circumstances, keep doing your think without caring what your chances are and without keeping score, all your life long. And let that be that. That’s all there is to it!

23) Self-induced trance states are the ground/heart of meditation in all religious traditions, particularly that of the Shaman and indigenous peoples. Trance states are the medium of enlightenment/awakening/liberation. Closing off and opening up produces realization beyond anything we are capable of in normal periods of conscious awareness. Sweat lodges and stomp dancing have been the source of knowledge beyond knowing for centuries. Experimentation with silence and experimentation with peyote are different paths to very similar outcomes. Chanting and drumming also produce similar results. Evaluation and judgment are best replaced with recognition and respect for both process, product, and people participating in the search for more than is provided in the normal and customary day-to-day.

24) Keep bearing witness forever–“Without hope, without witness, without reward.” Because virtue isn’t virtue when it reaps benefits and recognition, but “in extremis,” in the darkness, in the land of blight and devastation, where no one cares to act or survive. Call out there! And take no rest! Anyway, nevertheless, even so! Because no act is more necessary than the truth spoken without pause and without encouraging evidence of the power of truth–because it is who we are and what we do! And it is good whether it does any good or not!

25) Buddhism consists of words about words about words… When I sit, I sit looking out the window, but what I see is not out the window. And it is not what some one else (My teacher, for example) tells me I will see, or what I should see. The Buddha didn’t have a teacher, and he got along just fine so far as I can tell. We have what we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done. This is the divine within all sentient beings (Even rocks and trees). And we can connect with that simply by sitting looking out the window. Too many words get in the way of that.

26) When the “I” ‘responds to our egoic mind’ who is responding to whom? Who is the ego we want to disappear? Who is the “I” who gets rid of the “I”? And how do we experience Buddhism apart from the concepts? Apart from the Dharma? And if there is only Dharma, what is holding it all together beyond wishful/wistful thinking, delusion, illusion, projection and denial? The ground of the Tao is the experience of the flow and the felt-sense of intuition at work in our life. What is the ground of Buddhism beyond holding tightly onto what someone else has said? But, “Buddha-mind” has to be our mind or “a tale told by an idiot,” No?

27) Junghuhn should take a tour of a slaughter house, or a chicken packaging plant, or a pork processing establishment. Life eats life. Even vegetarians require the death of some life-form to keep themselves going. All of which gave rise to the Buddha’s conclusion that life is something that should not be long before Schopenhauer came to the same realization. How those men came to terms with the “is that ought not be,” led to a world religion from one and to a tortured life from the other. And, each of us in our own way have to take our turn in reconciling ourselves with “what should not be” over the course of our “three score and ten.”

28) I thought it was “No Mind/No Self.” Now I hear “The mind itself is Buddha,” and “The Buddha is born from the minds of human beings,” who themselves then go on to be fully attained Buddhas.” Buddhism gives me vertigo. You never hear the same thing twice. You hear its opposite, but there is no duality. I have to go sit down now. And close my eyes.

29) What does wanting know? What CATCHES the eye is the Way! Look closer at whatever catches your eye! Do what the situation calls for whether you want to or not! How often does your intuition call for something you don’t want? How often do you over-ride your intuition in favor of what you want? How often do you ignore what is called for in favor of what you want?
What is guiding your boat on its path through the sea? What determines what you do and what you leave undone? What does wanting know?

30) This is very well-written and beautifully done! I’m grateful for the background/experience that was required for and led to this article, and it leads to this realization: Enlightenment is the realization that all paths are paths to the path, which makes all paths the path. There is nothing that is not-the-path. And, sometimes we do it this way, and sometimes we do it that way. And that is the way to do it: sometimes like this and sometimes like that, depending entirely upon what is called for in each situation as it arises. There is nothing more to it that than!

31) I have just come from a conversation with the Buddha. He told me to tell you that “All of you Buddhists need to lighten up! Enlightenment has nothing to do with following/keeping the rules for enlightenment! Rules are left-brain stiffness, enlightenment is right-brain liberation!” So, if you want to sit looking out the window, that’s fine. And if you want to take a shower as a form of sitting, that is also fine. You are the authority of your own Zen process/experience. Be who you are!

32) Equanimity is balance and harmony. Wu-Wei, doing while not-doing, caring while not-caring, knowing while not-knowing… Being just so in our relationships with all things. Knowing when and where to draw the line.

33) Karma is what we say karma is. It is what the first person who said what karma is followed by all those who have said what they said karma is. It is a long rusty very heavy chain of associations from the first person to all these people here, now. Liberation is two simple questions away: WHO SAYS SO? and HOW DO WE KNOW THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT? I say they just made it up, and made up all the convoluted responses that have been make to sustain the delusion/illusion the first response created. Buddhism is delusional to the core. How do we know it is not? We take somebody’s (The Dharma’s) word for it. It is nonsense and contradiction pretending to be Absolute Truth. How do we know it is not? We have to sit still, be quiet, and wait for the mud to settle and the water to clear, in order to apprehend what spontaneously arises in the silence as realization, and see where it goes. It always comes down to our intrinsic intuition and our balance and harmony. We are always our own authority in determining our own path to liberation. As it was with the Buddha, so it is with all of us as well. World without end.

34) There is no justice in a world where life eats life. Justice gives way to realization, to recognition, to comprehending, that this is the way it is. It is the way it has always been, and it will be the way it always will be. World without end. Amen. Letting that be that, letting here, now be just what it is, just as it is, in its suchness–as those are in their suchness, seeing how things are and letting things be as they are, and living as only we can live in response to the truth of all things being what they are in their suchness as those thus come, anyway, nevertheless, even so, no matter what, in every here, now that comes along, doing what is called for, here, now, out of the spontaneous arising of our response in service to our intrinsic intuition–and not out of obeisance to the Dharma or any “rule to live by,” beyond the overriding rule of doing what is called for when, where and how it is called for in each situation as it arises using the gifts of our original nature, our innate virtues (What we do best and enjoy/love doing most) and our intrinsic intuition here, now, forever. Making us the final authority in determining and doing what needs to be done here, now always and forever. Amen.

35) My daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, mantra is, “Here I am, now what?” Meaning, “What is called for here, now? And how can I meet it with the gifts of my original nature, my innate virtues (What I do best and enjoy/love doing most), and my intrinsic intuition, right here, right now?”

36) Reminds me of the title to one of Neil Postman’s books, “The Situation Is Hopeless But Not Serious.” “Serious” is, of course, judgment call in someone’s eyes, and may well be Totally Serious to someone else. Bringing to mind this snippet: We are the ultimate authority determining how to interpret what we see/hear and what to do about it. Karma, for example, is what it is in the interpretation of those who say so. Delusion and Truth are matters of opinion and are not likely to be “undeniably so” in the eyes of all those doing the reckoning, and our response will depend on what we say about the matters in question. How do we know that what we think we know is so? We take our chances and make our best, most informed, guess about what to do about what faces us. And let that be that.

37) “An inner light of understanding that arises from within.” This could be likened to what we have come to call our inherent intuition, and would be the foundation for D.T. Suzuki’s statement that “enlightenment means habitual intuition” (Quoted by Alan Watts). Enlightenment comes, not from outside of us, but from awakening to what is always present to us within and serving it with our life.

38) Thinking about thinking is the root of all of our troubles as a species from the beginning. We are much better served by living intuitively without being able to understand, justify, explain, excuse what we are doing. We feel long before we think. When we out-grow feeling in favor of thinking, the problems start and carry us away.

39) We shape ourselves through our responses to the impact of life on us over time. We form habitual responses which become addictions in a predictable “When this happens we do that” kind of way. Imposing a deliberate “Bardo,” or breathing space between experience and response to experience offers us a way of changing the pattern of our behavior and creating a future different from our past by following the self-imposed rule: Do not react the same way twice ever about anything! It is the threshold to Liberation and Creativity.

40) This is where stupidity comes into play in Buddhism. “Insight into these three characteristics of phenomena—impermanence, suffering, and non-self—lies at the heart of wisdom.” Wait! Not so fast! What Buddhism labels impermanence is progression! Is maturation! Is growth and becoming! Our capacity to fulfill ourselves, to become who we are capable of being, or more than we are capable of being (By playing over our skill level, or “over our heads” in a tennis match, for example) is one of the best things about us! The Buddha may have never been very good at anything he did for him to lament “impermanence,” “woe” and “suffering” at every turn! He is not the all-knowing “renaissance man” he is reputed to be! I call BS!

41) “To see clearly things as they actually are” when things are actually changing before our eyes, and rarely are what they appear to be, I don’t care who is looking/seeing/assessing! The Buddha died from eating bad pork. He clearly did not see things as they are! If we say, “Oh, he saw–he just didn’t want to hurt his host’s feelings,” I say, “Who are we kidding?” Why do we have to have things be what we have always been told they are? Why can’t we see for ourselves? Why do we always have to be shown, often by those as it turns out that don’t see as well as we do? Buddhism is a charade. We are “playing the game of not playing a game”! Because it has played so long it must be exactly as it claims to be. No?

42) The motivation to do what is called for, what needs to be done, in each situation as it arises stems from our place of open engagement with who we are and what we are about–with our original nature, our innate virtues (The things we do best and love/enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition, in the emptiness/silence/stillness (One thing, not three), free from desire/fear/duty and ready to serve our gifts for the good of the moment because that is who we are and what we are about. It has nothing to do with what we stand to get or gain by so doing. It has everything to do with being what is needed right here, right now, no matter what. To scare us into being who we are needed to be is a shameful tactic useful only upon those who do not know. No?

43) Oh, PS, The M. C. Escher drawing is an immediate favorite of everyone who sees it–a spontaneous, automatic, natural, immediate, “direct arising in the moment” response, like enlightenment and liberation. No planning, no contriving, no practicing… Just experiencing the now with openness and innocence. No?

44) “Peaceful abiding here, now” IS Nirvana! IS Awakening! IS Enlightenment! IS Liberation! For there is nothing beyond “peaceful abiding here, now” to ask, or want, or seek, or be! No?

45) “The process of developing wisdom” is employing a means to an end and that is at complete odds with “peaceful abiding here, now.” It is striving for more than here, now! It is wanting, grasping, straining, seeking something else, something better, something finer and more wonderful than here, now. It is a lie. A deception. A side-track. A false path! Wisdom has nothing to offer beyond “peaceful abiding here, now.” No?

46) is it different/better/more to be desired than “peaceful abiding here, now”? Buddhism has become synonymous with “keeping the Dharma.” With Enlightenment, Awakening, Liberation, “finding lasting happiness.” When, in truth, it has never been, nor can it ever be, more than “peaceful abiding here, now.” No?

47) Consciousness of being needs to be added. And “peaceful abiding here, now” is the essence of wisdom, knowing, seeing, doing and being. All of Buddhism can be reduced to “peaceful abiding here, now.” It is the Dharma condensed to a phrase. The gift of emptiness, stillness and silence (one thing, not three). The heart of meditation. The core of the sutras. It is what everything Buddhist points to. Where everything Buddhist is going. There is nothing more to being Buddhist than “peaceful abiding here, now.”

48) We can end suffering by accommodating suffering! The Buddha’s neurosis regarding suffering colored his vision and biased his view–and liberation includes being free of the Buddha’s angst about suffering. People have handled suffering through time better than the Buddha did. Suffering itself is a path to maturation and wisdom and “peaceful abiding here, now” in spite of suffering, regardless of suffering. Buddhism has to grow up about suffering and accept what cannot be changed, thereby changing what seemed to be unacceptable.