Mark Foote

tart, strawberry fields nothing to get hung about surf's up, darling boy

balloons like static rubbed, they stick to anything not unlike some guys

the blooming onion the fat squash- all gone now, ummm hard rain left to fall

in my velvet box a crinoline veil- left me by my grandmother

shamanic father right in the same breath remains left on the same foot

maybe something else maybe not always so- still, for now this will do

First of all let me thank you for the question, and all the other Tao Bums here for the moving insights and comments, and appreciations; ain't Tao Bums swell! "The actual connection with all that breathes, all that grows, all that feels, all that Is." To my mind, you exactly sum up how the structure is lost here, among other things. I would pick out "all that grows" as a key to practical buddhism 101; all that grows means the stretch that we find ourselves in at the moment, how we recognize and accept that stretch and relax the activity that is generated. The stretch that generates activity can come close to painful sprain at any given moment, yet there is reciprocity, and the length of the given movement of breath can actually become the appropriate stretch. A mystery, as consciousness takes place. Have you read "emotional intelligence", by Daniel Goleman? He talks about how we store memories charged with adrenalin in connection with experiences we have even before we have language, for instant recall in similar circumstances, and how our behaviour can be dictated from that part of the brain (the amygdala). Beyond our cognitive control. The Gautamid spoke of how mindfulness is set up, then attention is withdrawn from the object of mindfulness, and equanimity continues in absorption; this equanimity is the equanimity with respect to the particular of feeling when consciousness, impact, and feeling takes place. The sensation of falling and our reflexes of posture triggered through memories stored by the amygdala can perhaps make the transition to single-pointedness of mind and equanimity a tough sled. I think the theory is that it is only possible to resolve karma when one has the ability to feel, and so is incarnate. That our attraction, aversion, or ignorance of the contents of feeling blinds us to consciousness, impact, and the ability to feel is not solely a human characteristic, but that we have memories in words apparently is; most animals only have image memory, not thought, if I understand correctly. Somewhere in the Pali Cannon the followers of the Gautamid are praised for being like wild animals; that's a favorite notion for me. At the same time, in Vinaya the Gautamid chastised a group of monks for their intention to hold a silent retreat, saying that the discourse on the dhamma was helpful to all beings. A rule was made prohibiting silent retreat, I believe; don't hear about that one at Zen centers much! I digress. Love and hate, dread in the stomach- behaviour that is impulsive and habitual- ain't we got fun. The insight into causality may be instantaneous, but the cessation of the volitive activity of speech, body, and mind is gradual- so said the Gautamid. As to form is emptiness and emptiness is form- no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, and also no extinction of them- as Foyan said in 12th century China, if we cannot find it where we are right now, where will we find it?

Some wonderful stuff every which way, on this thread, methinks- I was up at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center the other day, and Issho Fujita gave a presentation on the stretches involved in zazen. He ended by pointing out that we put our hands on our heads when we wonder what to do or what to think about something; we cross our hands over our heart when we seek humility; what, he asked, is the mind that goes with the posture of zazen? When we sit, we experience that mind, he said. The Gautamid started out teaching the four fields of mindfulness, the seven factors of enlightenment, the four truths, and the eight-fold path. In my estimation, something changed after the suicide of many of his monks due to the meditation on the unlovely, which he also taught (it's in Samyutta Nikaya volume 5 in the chapter on "the intent concentration on in-breaths and out-breaths"). When he came out of retreat and realized the situation, he described his practice before and after enlightenment as "concentration on in-breaths and out-breaths", and he said this was a thing that was lovely in and of itself, and a pleasant way of life too. Notice that he no longer is directing his monks to the unlovely as a means for the recognition of impermanence, nor is he advocating striving for enlightenment in some other way. Of course, the concentration on in-breaths and out-breaths he describes involves in part the experience of impermanence, detachment, cessation, or relinquishment in connection with the breath in or out, yet the emphasis is markedly changed. He also describes the experience of sense organ, sense object, consciousness, impact, and feeling with respect to each of the senses as a way that fevers of the mind and body diminish, and the eight fold way, the factors of enlightenment, and all the rest go to development and fruition (Majjhima-Nikaya, Pali Text Society volume 3 pg 337-338, ©Pali Text Society). This too represents a different emphasis than that of the earlier teachings, at least it does to me. When the Gautamid died, he said, "everything changes- work out your own salvation". He told the monks they didn't have to observe all the rules anymore, just the principal three, but nobody could say which three he meant with any certainty so they went on observing them all. So at what point do I lose the structure? I think only out of a necessity at the moment, that is somehow realized. As Shunryu Suzuki said, it's a mistake to think you can sit zazen- only zazen can sit zazen. I would say, it's a mistake for me to think that I can lose the structure. It helps me to know that the Gautamid's practice concerned mindfulness connected with in-breaths and out-breaths; it helps me to know that the anatomy behind that is the support for the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae provided by the ilio-lumbar ligaments, and to know that this support is crucial to the free movement of the sacrum in the cranial-sacral rhythm. It helps me to know that it's about consciousness out of sense organ and sense object, impact in the fascial structure as a result of consciousness, and the ability to feel that follows out of activity generated by impact. Most of all, it helps me to know that aversion to the particular of feeling, attraction to the particular, or ignorance of it can condition the subsequent occurrence of consciousness; I can witness the conditional nature of consciousness for myself, and experience the cessation of volitive activity in perception and sensation as a result of such a witness. There's a certain happiness in this that draws me as a necessity, at any given moment.

known by the shadow the power to cloud men's minds structured investments ("...Because of this structure, SIVs were considered to be part of the shadow banking system." SIV- structured investment vehicle, all gone since 2008 - see structured investment vehicles)

gets stale salt Snyder's applies butter liberally (3, that's 3!) car wheels in the rain

tickled tongue congealed longs for fat slice on triscuit gets stale salt Snyder's (that's a pretzel, John!)

Is this the Chinese "heart-mind" (maybe other cultures too, I don't know)? Are you saying there is no sense of physical location associated with awareness, or are you simply affirming that awareness has no fixed location? Strange about physically measuring the biomagnetic field associated with the heart. I have to remind myself that the ability to feel can exceed what is known through the six senses at any given moment; perhaps our unconscious just takes in that much more that what our consciousness is permitted to realize, but if so some of it is like radio energy or other bio-energy that can come from the other side of the world and probably of the universe, in my estimation. I don't know how you measure it other than by the sychronicity of events; you think of someone, and they call. Your feet lead you to a place where you meet an old friend; such as that.

yes, indeed. and the more I recognize activity out of the stretch I'm in as consciousness takes place, the more I can relax and accept feeling. A lifetime of running from the feeling of stretch, and now I am undone! Ha ha!

"If you are not disturbed by the sound of the bluejay when you are reading something, the blue jay will come right into your heart, and you will be a bluejay, and the bluejay will be reading something." (Shunryu Suzuki, from his lecture on "Sound and Noise" To me, this is about action that follows from impact and feeling as consciousness takes place. If you have this experience, you are pie-in-the-face sure that there is (at heart) "no doer with regard to this consciousness-informed body". Shikantaza is often translated as "just sitting", but Kobun Chino Otogawa gave it as literally "just hit sit". I like SF Jane's description from Frantzis of the mind stream; I think Shunryu Suzuki described the same thing in his lecture on "whole body zazen": "You may say that your mind is practicing zazen and ignore your body, the practice of your body. Sometimes when you think that you are doing zazen with an imperturbable mind, you ignore the body, but it is also necessary to have the opposite understanding at the same time. Your body is practicing zazen in imperturbability while your mind is moving." All that's left is to experience the impact of the place of occurrence of mind on stretch and feeling, to have a bluejay read a book. ok, ok, as a necessity in the specific movement of breath.

fire dragon, angry in the glass ball- held to light fire dragon, bright

"... the cessation of the (volitional) activities is gradual. In one who has entered the first rupa jhana, (the activity of) speech has ceased. In one who has entered the fourth rupa jhana, (the activity of) in-breath and out-breath has ceased. In one who has entered the jhana of the cessation of perception and sensation, (the activity of) perception and cessation has ceased."- the Gautamid, somewhere in the cannon Yes, a forest fire can travel on particles like a plasma through the air- the fire still burns because of fuel, but the fuel is moving. I don't know how that relates to consciousness. The ancestor said, it's not that there isn't practice and verification, just that practice and verification are undefiled. I don't find it so easy to enter meditative states, but I do know the feeling that exists when volitional activity ceases in the movement of breath. The view that consciousness depends on sense object/sense organ seems more conducive to that cessation than the view that there is a continuity of consciousness, as far as I can tell. The experience of the place of consciousness effecting a stretch and a reciprocity of stretch is occasionally sharp, and the ability to feel is the means I find to accept the experience, yet I find none of it has any meaning outside the context of the cessation of volition in inhalation and exhalation. I can't make volition cease in inhalation and exhalation with continuity through the exercise of will directly, only through the place of occurrence of mind, and it helps me to accept that the mind is spontaneously placed by the respiration of breath and the respiration of the cranial-sacral fluid.

I can mostly see my parents' weaknesses I think, but there are parts of my parents' weaknesses that I have trouble getting in focus- I guess because those parts are still in me. What a strange mixture we all are. What an excellent piece of writing, Strawdog65; deeply disturbing, to think of your father in that condition, presumably still full of enough rage to bite the hand that fed him. The words of Towns Van Zand come to mind: mama, when you leave don't leave nothin' at all I can't use nothin' I don't need nothin'. ... as brothers are troubles are locked in each other's arms and you better pray that they never find you. your back ain't strong enough to bear a burden, double-fold it'd cut you down down into nothin'. to be born is to go blind bow down a thousand times to echoes of pure temptation sorrow and solitude these are the precious things and the only words worth rememb'ring. from the song, "nothin'".

Hey, Lucky Strikes, I was thinking about this the other day myself, in part because of the thread about Carlos Castaneda's teachings. When I finished writing on that thread, I wrote, just to finish my thoughts. I'm hoping it's relevant to your mullings, so I will offer it here, even though it's a tad long: 'Dogen said: "To study the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self." We forget ourselves in our habitual activity, and we also forget ourselves in activity that is generated without any intent. As consciousness takes place, we realize an ability to feel. When our experience of our ability to feel acquires continuity, we can lose ourselves in "being where we are" (the famous Zen master Yuanwu advised a student in a letter, "just be where you are, 24/7"). In my experience, the continuity of the ability to feel is really only the fluidity of changes in the alignment of the body, in response to the occurrence of consciousness and the necessity of breath at the moment. Gautama the Buddha described consciousness as a phenomena that only occurred out of contact between a sense organ and a sense object. The continuity of consciousness he described as an illusion, similar to the illusion of the existence of fire independent of fuel; when a forest fire leaps between the tops of trees, he said, an illusion of the existence of fire independent of fuel is created, yet the truth of the matter is that fire only burns when there is fuel. Similarly, he said, consciousness only exists because of contact between a sense organ and a sense object, and can be described as "eye consciousness", "ear consciousness", "nose consciousness", "tongue consciousness", "touch consciousness", or "thought consciousness". For one who observes sense organ, sense object, consciousness, impact, and feeling with regard to each of the senses, he said, the eight-fold path to the end of suffering and all the factors of enlightenment develop and go to fruition. In this instance, I believe the impact Gautama referred to is the impact of the occurrence of consciousness on the balance of the body and on the stretch associated with that balance; from impact comes activity that affects the alignment of the spine, and the ability to feel. Dogen described his practice as "shikantaza"- literally "pure hit sit" or "just hit sit". The focus here is on the instance of feeling that results from the impact of the occurrence of consciousness on the stretch inherent in balance. In contrast, the Gautamid described his practice before and after enlightenment as "the development of mindfulness that is mindfulness of in-breaths and out-breaths". Each particular in his statement of this practice was framed in the context of mindfulness of inhalation, or mindfulness of exhalation. In my experience, the occurrence of consciousness, the impact of the occurrence of consciousness on fascial stretch, and the ability to feel realized through such impact only make possible a continuity of feeling out of a necessity of breath; therefore, as far as forgetting the self, to me the practice of Dogen and the practice of Gautama the Buddha are one and the same. Simply by being where we are as we are, we can come to forget ourselves, as Dogen suggested. I would say this experience is a lot like hypnosis: when an awareness of the necessity of a particular movement of breath comes forward, the free occurrence of consciousness and the relaxation of activity can allow our posture (or even our gesture or carriage) to be realized in the continuity of feeling. We forget ourselves out of necessity, and where we are sits, stands, and moves beyond doubt.' **** far-fetched, I know, but this is what I'm dealing with; hope it addresses your issues. yers, Mark Heap

is kettle black now pot inquired tremulously whack! kyosaku stick

luminosity practice,verification one foot in, shake it

each perfectly round sound echoes down the ravine water far away

For the most part I believe waking and sleeping is the same effort, so I confuse myself by asking about mixing sleeping and waking. Thought I was talking nonsense as I wrote it, and I still think so, but they were the words I wanted to write! As I reflect on this, I realize that maybe the same effort that's involved in waking and sleeping can be a part of dreaming. We realize the place as the place is what is, single-pointed yet inclusive past what can be known. If we see our hands, or travel out of body, the effort is still only this?- my guess, since I can't claim to have done either. Just the occasional lucid dream. Sweet dreams!

hanky from ship floats aloha briefs, bikinis mai-tai's, umbrellas