Non-Attachment

The second of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths is:

The cause of suffering is thirst, desire, clinging, craving, holding on.

Also known as attachment. Now, I ask you how would a Buddhist soccer team play? Would they run half-assed around the pitch? Would they be disinterested and detached from the game? Hell no! I see a big difference between attachment and engagement. And I think it goes like this:

When the whistle starts the game, you give it your all. You run for every ball. You play hard, but as fair as possible. If you defend against the ball and hit the attackers leg instead - well, that happens... that's what a referee is there for. Free kick for the other team.

And when the referee signals the end of the game? That's when you practice non-attachment. You thank the opposing team and you put the game behind you. You go to the pub and have a beer - in Germany a beer contains more minerals and goodness than any softdrink... You learn from your mistakes, but you don't sulk, you don't pout and you are certainly not mean to the players of the other team, if you lose.

You see? When the game starts you are in it all the way - or don't play at all. No walking along the sideline! Run until your lungs are in your throat! That's engagement. But when the game is over... non-attachment, whether you win or loose.

Actually it is easy in a game of soccer... it is much harder in the game of life you have chosen. Who is the referee? Who is going is going to blow the whistle so you know to disengage? That is exactly where it gets hard, where that line can blur so easily, at home, at work, in our relationships, and anytime during the day... When are we simply engaged to play the game, and when do we start clinging too much and thus suffer. Unlike a soccer game LIFE is more complicated, with more subtleties...

When do I engage to the fullest to play the game I have chosen to play in this world - and when do I practice non-attachment because otherwise I will suffer and get bent out of shape? That is the million dollar question. And the answer will make you either a very happy wo/man or very sad indeed. I imagine it is much like walking a tightrope, or just standing on one foot... we constantly have to adjust... I once saw a video of Baryshnikov dancing. First I saw the wide-angle shot and he was standing on one foot, holding the pose perfectly... his body did not move at all - except for the foot he stood on... then the close-up of the foot and lower leg... the muscles in his foot and calf were twitching to keep the rest of the body floating... that's what it is like, I think... engaging, detaching, engaging, detaching...

Zazen vs Perm

My mother used to get perms and of course I wondered what that meant and did some research. I learned that a single human hair is made up of many small strands that are woven together and connected by little bridges that hold them in place and give the hair its shape - straight for some people and curly for other people. When a person gets a perm, the hair is cleaned, then wound around rollers while wet. Then a chemical dissolves the little bridges that hold the strands together. The hair is washed again and then a second chemical, called a fixer, is used to build new bridges between the strands to hold the new shape, which depends on the diameter of the rollers - large rollers produce a wave, small rollers a tight curl.

I can tell you are wondering what on earth is the connection to Zazen?

Well, in his book Zen and the Brain James Austin writes about the exceptional stage of ongoing, enlightened traits and proposes some actual structural changes that would have to occur for the central nervous system to develop and sustain such complete awareness, such as etching of old pathways to make room for new ones, and gradual releasing of structural self-patterns such as amygdala, hypothalamus and central gray. This long-term development becomes a new and stable structure that can be transferred in evolution both culturally and biologically.

You see?

I am comparing Zazen to the chemical that breaks down the bridges between the strands in our hair and the fixer that builds new bridges to hold the new shape. First Zazen breaks down our view of the world, breaks down the ego - like opening a Hoberman Sphere - then, eventually, it fixes the new world that was gained... The big difference? A perm takes a few hours, Zazen takes 6-30 years?

Shikantaza

Well, daikensho through shikantaza is what I desire, uncommon though it may be.
5 years or 50 years - it does not matter.

After all, to think that I am not a Buddhha yet is an illusion in itself.

I love how every sitting is different. I love the subtle shading.

Touching a string after 35 years of playing guitar is so different from touching a string in the beginning, when I was 11... I love that slow development, that movement from the coarse to the subtle.

And I am finding the same to be true in Zazen. I think whether one works with Koans or not, time is of the essence. Letting Zazen change us, giving Zazen time to change our mind! And I am sure it also changes physical aspects of our brain.

Brain Zen

When practiced as Zazen, it holds the person in one erect posture. This cuts down not only on movements but on sensations feeding back from them. Zazen becomes long intervals of sensorimotor deprivation.
- Zen and the Brain

This fits with my earlier post.

Unmatter

Unmatter: A Possible Third Form of Matter

This interesting abstract from CERN proposes a third form of matter that is between matter and antimatter: 'unmatter.' Interesting idea to track. It could have huge implications if confirmed...
(Via Minding the Planet)

Thinkink, Not-thinking and Non-Thinking... All things come in threes...

Focus

As a child I often played this little game by myself. I would look at a large scene, like a soccer-game or a city landscape, and try to soft-focus on that whole scene instead of letting my eyes roam about. Instead of letting my attention move from object to object I would try to keep the attention on the overall scene. Instead of following the ball as it was being kicked about, I would stay with the whole soccer-field, in which the ball moved around freely.

In a museum I would often enjoy looking at a painting like this, instead of letting my eyes move along the lines and color-fields of the brush-strokes. I found it to be very interesting to control my attention this way.

It is also useful in producing music. It is natural for one's attention to move from instrument to instrument and often it is very useful to mix music in such a way that the attention of the listener is manipulated to move to the bass for example - by making a specific bass-phrase louder. But, I also find it very useful to apply the wide-angle, soft-focus technique from my childhood to music and listen to the overall image of the music.

Now, I realize that this element of soft-focus is very important in Zazen as well. Instead of letting my attention jump from my ears to my eyes, to my posture, to a thought, I try to focus on the big picture, in which the ear is but a small part... I know when I get it right, too, because - just the way I remember it from my childhood - when I get it right, there is a beautiful strange charge running through my spine.

Professor Sees Mania

In New Book, Professor Sees 'Mania' in U.S.

In his new book, "American Mania: When More Is Not Enough" (W. W. Norton & Company), Dr. Whybrow argues that in the age of globalization, Americans are addictively driven by the brain's pleasure centers to live turbocharged lives in pursuit of status and possessions at the expense of the only things that can truly make us happy: relationships with other people.

"In our compulsive drive for more," writes Dr. Whybrow, 64, a professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral science, "we are making ourselves sick."
(Via The New York Times > Arts.)

More on the Brain theme...

Other countries are prey to the same forces, Dr. Whybrow says, but the problem is worse here because we are a nation of immigrants, genetically self-selected to favor individualism and novelty. Americans are competitive, restless and driven to succeed. And we have succeeded.

Individualism has driven America from the start. It is the country's strength and achilles heel at the same time.

Mind : Brain

What goes on within the human skull is more complex and fantastic than anyone imagined. Now science is delving deeper into what we know of the mind.

National Geographic Magazine - March Issue.

And if you find that exciting, like I do, you might also want to check into this book: Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness.

Haven't read it yet, but it should be here on Monday.

Women, IQ and Marriage

Women, IQ and Marriage

In one study, four British universities measured the IQ of 900 11-year-olds and revisited them 40 years later to see how their lives had moved on.
They found that the brighter girls were less likely to find a man who wants to marry them, with their chances diminishing dramatically in direct proportion to their level of intelligence.
For each 16-point rise in their IQ, their marriage prospects fell by 40 per cent.
In contrast, boys' chances increased by 35 per cent with each 16-point rise. (Qtd. here).

One theory is that men want to marry women who are not as smart as they are. I thus explained to my wife (who has a PhD in microbiology) how lucky she was to find a really smart man. Her response was unprintable in a family blog. Let's just say that she had an alternative theory of why smart women don't get married, something about a fish and a bicycle.
(Via Marginal Revolution.)

And I thought intelligence was very sexy.

Chinese Hackers Target Tibetans

Chinese Hackers Target Tibetans

China has increasingly aimed its sophisticated cyberwar teams at the low-tech, peace-loving Tibetans. I know dozens of Tibetan lamas and their staffs and they all use PC's -- and none of them know anything about viruses, firewalls, trojan horses, etc. They are sitting ducks for this kind of attack (maybe they should all use Macs? Fewer/no viruses! That would be a great PR move for Apple).

The Tibetans just want the freedom to practice their religion without being disturbed. It would be really wonderful if the white-hat hacker community would volunteer their services to help the Tibetans defend themselves from this state-sponsored cyberterror.
(Via Minding the Planet)

A Tireless Stream

Yes, I love to meditate. I sit in silence 30-40 minutes everyday. But whenever you meditate, you have already made a compartment about what is non-meditation. Meditation has to be a constant stream for 24 hours. Real test of meditation is how you handle your life situations. If you have preferences, and you cannot accept life as it comes, you aren't meditating.
(Via The Inner-net.)

Light a Candle

Take a moment, go here and light a candle:

In many different traditions lighting candles is a sacred action. It expresses more than words can express. It has to do with gratefulness. From time immemorial, people have lit candles in sacred places. Why should cyberspace not be sacred?

It is free, in case you are wondering. You can also listen to Brother David Steindl-Rast talk with Ken Wilber here.

Soto : Rinzai

Here is a web site that explains the difference between Soto and Rinzai schools of Zen. Everybody explains it a little differently.

Today I thought of this:

Working with a Koan, a paradox, seems to me like arm-wrestling with your brain... or maybe it's arm-wrestling between the left and right hemisphheres of your brain... in any case eventually your brain cries Uncle.

It seems to me that relying on just sitting is more like fooling the brain into thinking that nothing is going on. To sit and not move, to look down - which makes your lids cover more of your eyes, which in turn keeps your eyes lubricated so that one does not have to blink as often... not thinking, not not-thinking, but non-thinking... eventually after years of practice there might come a moment when the brain gets fooled into giving up control for a moment - not because it fights a paradox/koan, not because one is falling asleep - rather the opposite, but because nothing is going on. The complex construct/matrix falls apart/disappears for a moment and we can get a glimpse of reality. The brain lets its guard down.

It seems to me that just sitting depends on perfecting one's position over time, so that less and less effort goes into sitting. The bones in your back have to line up just right, comfortably supported by the muscles. I think the moment I described would most likely happen during a sesshin, when one sits for 5-8 hours every day... and that regular sitting of half an hour or an hour a day is in a way just training for that moment.

I am very attracted to just sitting for several reasons. I feel that am not a patient person and that I am an intellectual. My mind is very active all of the time. So, just sitting is somewhat opposite to my nature and I find that very intriguing.

Another image that just came up is that working with a Koan may be like chasing your prey, while just sitting is like fishing, waiting for the prey to come to you. Boy, that is so not like me. In the studio I always run my head against the wall until I find a way that works. As long as I can remember I have always worked that way. Opposites attract?

Hey, I am just a student - don't believe anything I am writing.

The Pendulum Swings

How funny it is when looked at from a little distance!

Check out this article. It appears that the USA, which in the Sixties was leading the charge of change and Spain, which in the Sixties was ruled by dictator General Francisco Franco, who was a renowned staunch Catholic and banned homosexuality and divorce... are switching sides. Now it is the US where a lot of people seem bent on trying to ban homosexuality while Spain, which is still 95% catholic, has legalized gay marriage according to the BBC and is the third EU country to do so - after Holland and Belgium.

Now, don't you agree you could have made some money betting your friends or parents 20 years ago which country was more likely to allow gay marriage!!!

Great article on a Spanish politician in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Recent polls show that 68 percent of Spaniards believe that homosexuals deserve equal treatment under the law and that 66 percent support same-sex marriage.

America you are now officially acting older than the old world.

How far will you let it go?

From the Guardian newspaper:

What should we do with US classics like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Color Purple? "Dig a hole," Gerald Allen recommends, "and dump them in it." Don't laugh. Gerald Allen's book-burying opinions are not a joke.

Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush."

First: stop buying gay books for the libraries.
Second: remove all art created by gay people from the museums and call it entartet, which means unnatural.
Third: make homosexuals wear armbands that clearly identify them.
Fourth: if all else fails - round 'em up.

Sound familiar?

It would mean you can't borrow Memoirs of Hadrian from a Public Library for example. In fact a lot of books on Romans and Greeks would have to be burned.

And you thought the Constitution would protect you from religious fanaticism...

This kind of news hits me really hard. Themes like this one were discussed endlessly in school when I was growing up. It may never be allowed to happen again we were told.

I was shaking after reading the article, then sobbing... and then I realize this:

Religious fundamentalists have more in common with one another than with the rest of us. Never ever elect a man to public office because of his faith - only for his political abilities. In fact, even if you like his politics, but he exhibits ANY religious intolerance - do not elect him.

Intolerant fundamentalism of any color is evil. I have friends who are very serious Christians. They never preach, they are never intolerant to a different life-style. They live by example, not by attacking others.

Fundamentalist thinking is nothing new - why do you think the Founding Fathers insisted on separating church and state!!

Fear creates intolerance. Then and now. It's a Hoberman sphere shoved into a tight tight ball. No air, no space. Hell.

Hawk

From an email:

Like an apparition
the hawk appears
Do you see it?

I wrote it because I wondered how many people notice hawks perched in trees along the highway as they drive, especially in winter when the trees are bare. They seem to stand right out to me.

I like your poem!
Many masters have contemplated that same problem, since Zen cannot be taught - it has to be learned.
And realization is a lot like your hawk... right in front of our nose, unseen.