Comments Made to Articles in Tricycle 03, 10/11/2024

01) I am glad to join the Buddha in not being a Buddhist, and to join the Christ in not being a Christian—and in being free of doctrine, dogma, dharma and able to to what is called for in each situation as it arises as those who are true to their original nature, their innate virtues (The things we do best and enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition in doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, where, when and how it is called for, at one with the Tao in the flow of life and being, in every here, now throughout the time left for living. Doing it the way the Buddha and the Christ did it.

02) Who is the self who says they have gotten rid of the self? Who is the ego who says they have disappeared the ego? Who can talk of being free if there is no one to to be free? Saying we are selfless is like people in psych wards saying they are God. 

03) Doing what is called for is nothing special. Nothing noteworthy. We do what is called for in each situation as it arises, and then, instead of talking about it and raving over what a great thing we did, we just do what is called for in the next situation as it arises. It may be the same thing we did in the last situation, or something we will never do again. Who knows? But it is forgotten as soon as we do it because the next situation is already here, now, and we have to determine what is called for and step forward to meet the present situation with the gifts we have to give, and on, and on, offering what we have to offer with no thought of recognition or reward, for the simple joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it. Peacefully abiding, here, now. Always and forever.

04) Dying to live or living to die or dying to die or living to live? It is so difficult deciding what to do! What becomes of “peaceful abiding here, now”? With nothing to gain and nothing to lose. With nothing to strive for and nothing to pursue. Nothing to get right. Nothing to do wrong. Right and wrong are everywhere in Buddhism. “Sit through the pain” is right. Changing to a more comfortable position is wrong. Living to please some teacher, some teaching, is right. Just being alive to whatever needs to happen here, now, is wrong. So much to remember. So much to forget. Why bother?

05) We all are awakening. None of us is awake. There is no final point to the path of seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing, doing, being. We never arrive. We are always and forever on the way. Each of us is responsible for deepening, expanding, enlarging the Dharma by engaging it with our experience/perspective/perception, asking all of the questions that beg to be asked, saying all of the things that cry out to be said, and serving our inherent gifts of our original nature, our innate virtues (The things we do best and enjoy doing most) and our intrinsic intuition in doing what is called for in each situation as it arises with no concern for what is in it for us, but doing it solely for the joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it all our life long.

06) Craving can be exactly what we need to do what needs to be done. Impulsive action can be directed action from the source of action, which would be our intrinsic intuition. We can be so smart we are stupid, saying “No!” to the things crying out for an emphatic, “YES! We can be so faithful we are disloyal to our own best interest and that of those about us. Being evil by doing good sweeps us all away, and so the importance of not rushing to do good! Listen! Look! See! Hear! Here, Now! No?

07) Buddhism reflects the simple (“Peaceful abiding, here, now.”) becoming complex over time (The Dharma and the 10,000 rules which increase daily). Why make the religion of the people so difficult for the people? “If it weren’t hard, anyone could be a Master!” And then where would we be?

08) Why the concern for “doing it right”? How many wrongs does it take to get it right? Why does that matter? Any way followed long enough leads to the right way. That makes all ways the right way eventually–and why worry about/want to shorten the time it takes to find the right way? It is all practice! If we practice wrong or practice right, what does it matter? All we have are a billion dozen years of Karma, right? So what’s the hurry? If everybody gets there before we do what do they gain? What do we lose? This is not a contest! There is no reward for finishing first. And no punishment for finishing last. We aren’t trying to be best in the class! We are just practicing “peaceful abiding, here, now.” How can we get that wrong? Why does it matter if we do?

09) Binding the minds of the poor, the ignorant, the destitute, at the mercy of merciless fate and the austerity of their times to the everlasting fear of hungry ghosts and the chance that they might have an outcome like that in their own karma-cursed afterlives, is, itself worthy of such an outcome to those who defended their actions with the excuse that the ends justify the means and use atrocity to ward off calamity. I trust that they, themselves, are destined to live out forever in the form of hungry ghosts.

10) Emptiness is the solution to all of our problems today, to co-opt a 12-step slogan. If we have a problem, emptying ourselves of it resolves it, solves it, disappears it, poof, no problem. Buddhism is not empty enough! Buddhism is filled with rules and laws and ways of thinking/doing things. It espouses “Peaceful abiding, here, now,” but it does not stop there. We have to mind how we do things from sitting to chanting to breathing….the lists of how to do everything are without end. We need to lighten up! Be empty–Lighten up! Those are the only rules! The Dharma is a burden. Be rid of it! Be empty! Lighten up! THIS is the way to liberation! 

11) When chopping wood, chop wood. When carrying water, carry water. When reading the news paper and drinking coffee, read the paper, drink water. Some things can be done solo, some things can be done in sync with other things. Walking and chewing gum. Doing income tax and cursing. Diversion, distraction, denial save us from the emptiness of our lives by apparently giving us something to do. But we are not engaged in/by anything. We have no focus. Nothing compelling. What we need is to be immersed in that which calls our name. When the poet is writing poetry, the poet is writing poetry. See? When the cat is stalking a bird, the cat is stalking a bird. What do we do like the poet writes poetry? Like the cat stalks the bird? If there is nothing like that in our life, we need to examine our life to see where we are blocking our interests, our enthusiasm, our exhilaration–and get out of our own way! 

12) Enlightenment is “habitual intuition,” according to D.T. Suzuki. We develop wisdom by sitting in emptiness/stillness/silence (One thing, not three) and waiting for the mud to settle and the water to clear. Wisdom develops as realization. As seeing, hearing, understanding, knowing, doing, being. Which flow from sitting/waiting. We cultivate intuition by sitting/waiting. We cultivate hearing by listening. We cultivate seeing by looking. We wait/watch. See. See?

13) Who knew more about being Buddhist than the Buddha did? Where did he get his information?

14) The Buddha trusted himself. Jesus trusted himself. Lao Tzu trusted himself. All those who know know only what they know and trust it to be so. What do you know that you know is so that no one told you? Start there. Go with that. See where it takes you. It is the Buddha’s way. Be the Buddha. Be you!

15) This is beautifully, wonderfully done! The work of aligning ourselves with the “How-It-Is-Ness” of each situation as it arises is the essential part of being awake/aware/alive. This is the Buddha touching the earth beneath the Bodi Tree. This is the grounding, freeing, act of being present with what is present with us–without expectation, without judgment, without desire, without fear, without anger, without duty, etc., interfering with our ability to see/know/be/do in response to whatever is happening in our life, moment-to-moment. It is the Buddha-Way! And, as it just so happens, the Way of the Tao! 

16) What is there to count on? Why count on anything? We celebrate the Buddha as “one thus come.” As one “just as he is.” Life is like the Buddha in this respect, and the Buddha is like life. Life is “just what it is,” no more, no less. The Buddha is “just as he is,” no more, no less. We have no opinion about life beyond seeing it as it is. It comes and it goes. Our place is to let come what is coming and to let go what is going, with no attachment, no opinions, no expectation, no judgment. “Peaceful abiding, here, now.” Permanence, impermanence, what is it to us? Why even bother to notice? Why make anything of it either way? Our place is to do what is called for in each situation as it arises. To live out of our intrinsic intuition in meeting our circumstances as they need to be met. That is all there is to it. Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. One day to the next.

17) Happiness consists not in wanting-getting-having, but in knowing-being-doing. It starts in emptiness, stillness, silence (one thing not three), also called “meditation,” and merging with “peaceful abiding, here, now.” Then arising to do what is called for in each situation as it arises with the tools of our original nature, our innate virtues (the things we do best and enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition–for the joy of doing it and the satisfaction of having done it. Producing liberation, balance and harmony, comfort and consolation, peace and equanimity, serenity and tranquility. As simple as it sounds. No? 

18) We can drop into the silence–sit in the center of the web of life–at any point during our day. We do not have to sit in meditative silence. We can walk in meditative silence in the midst of the hum-drum of existence. It is called “Walking two paths at the same time.” We can step into the silence walking into our office building, smiling “Hello” to the people we meet. We can empty ourselves of desire/wanting, fear, duty, anywhere, any time. “It’s no hill for a stepper!” Or to anyone who knows what they are doing. No?

19) Action springing from deliberation is action springing from the mind. Action from intuitive recognition of the need for action in the service of what is called for in each situation as it arises is action springing from our innate Buddha-nature. If we think about it, we think about it, and impose our idea of what needs to be done upon the moment, and are not responding to the moment but to our ideas of what should and should not be done there. “Peaceful abiding, here, now” asks us to live out of the here, now, and let that be that.

20) D.T. Suzuki is said (by Alan Watts) to have said, “Enlightenment is equivalent to habitual intuition.” Which is quite compatible, I think, with “seeing one’s nature,” or better, perhaps, with “living aligned with our true/original nature.” Which is, I take it, indistinguishable from our own Buddha-nature.

21) Is and is not appears to be a duality. If something is and is not–neither this nor that nor not this and not that–it is a simple matter to confuse it with nonsense. And, so far as I can tell, we are no better off in a world of non-duality than we would be in a world of duality. And, of course, no worse off. Which, of course, sounds like a stalemate to me. Stuck on an eternal chess board with no move to make. We would be just as well off to disappear the entire game and declare ourselves to be enlightened and wait to see what is called for in the next situation as it arises and do that, one situation at a time. No matter what. How far would that be from actually being enlightened? I think, not very far at all. No?

22) Everything flows from balance and harmony, and the forces of disruption/ destabilization are everywhere at all times. The concept of wu-wei, getting things done without striving or trying, but assisting what is called for in each situation as it arises, can be used with finding the balance point between caring and not caring and harmonizing with what is happening by caring enough to be engaged but not so much that we are carried away. What carries us away? Go there and practice developing not-caring to the point of being there without being carried away. Being curious without being engaged helps develop disinterested wonderment at the emotional strings that are being pulled by how much we care about things we cannot control. What’s up with that? Why have anything at stake in outcomes beyond our ability to influence? Watch yourself drift toward not-caring while realizing how little difference caring makes. Find the “sweet spot” between caring enough and not caring too much, and relax in the balance and harmony that is to be found there.

23) Living in accord is accomplished by living toward the same thing and living from the same thing. When we live at cross purposes–when what is good for me is bad for you, and/or vice versa, we are not, and cannot, be living in accord. There has to be common ground, which is what the two-headed bird needed to realize. Our common ground has to be mindfully considered. We have to live toward what is called for in each situation as it arises, and from our faithful association with–not our mind, but our body. Our body’s knowledge has to guide our living. We cannot think our way to where we need to be. Our body’s knowledge flows from and leads back to our original nature, our innate virtues (What we do best and enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition. When we are one with our body, we are living from our Buddha (Our bodhi, our body)-mind. And are knowing/doing (One thing, not two) what is called for in each situation as it arises for the mutual good of all sentient beings. We ARE then, the Buddha! We ARE then the Dharma! Our body-mind is concerned with NOT what we desire/want, but with desiring/wanting what is called for in each situation and is good for the whole, so that our good is good for all people and their good is good for us. And we get to that place universally when all of us are living out of the emptines-stillness-silence in a good faith commitment to our body’s wisdom in service to what is called for here, now, all our life as a whole people long. And Rumi said, “If you are not here with us in good faith, you are doing terrible damage.” It is so.

24) When we meet everyone and everything with “peaceful abiding, here, now,” we commune with–and form a commune with those who and that which is capable of communing with us. We welcome one another and all things into our company and see where it goes from there. We set the tone for the next thing by the way we receive this thing and see where it goes as those who do what we can to insure peaceful abiding for all concerned. May it be so!

25) These are beautiful tips on the path to letting things be what/how they are on the way to doing what is called for about they way things how/are. This is the dilemma  the mind cannot resolve but the body knows how to handle. We do not decide what to let go of. We know what to let go of. We do not decide what to change when. We know what to change when. Thinking cannot take us there. Simply listening to our body and being one with our intuition guides us to knowing/doing what is called for, how, when and where it is called for. It is the Way.

26) Jesus wasn’t a Christian and the Buddha wasn’t a Buddhist. Where did they get what they had? Straight out of their own intuition and imagination by being friends with emptiness/stillness/silence (One thing, not three), and being true to their original nature, innate virtues (what they did best and enjoyed doing most) and their intrinsic intuition. Body knowing–knowing what our body knows–gets us to the heart of the matter. Head knowing is only knowing what someone else thinks is so, as in the Bible and the Dharma. Body knowing KNOWS what is so. What is your body saying to you right now about what I’m saying? I’m saying, “Don’t listen to me! Listen to YOU!” Like Jesus and the Buddha listened to themselves!