Mark Foote

a fresh autumn peach turning over a new leaf within and without

I found myself wondering if it wasn't your good karma that kept you upstairs until the moment when your presence on the stairs would scare them off; even though you have the nuisance and expense of repairs, no one was hurt, and the youths get one more chance to reflect on the error (and potential for hard time or injury) of their ways. Shunryu Suzuki had some kind of a quote about how things go right when the captain is present on the ship, or something like that; I think that's the phenomena you're driving at, I'll try to find the exact quote when I get a chance.

I went up to Sonoma Mountain Zen Center today, and the lecturer reminded the audience of advice from "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" about placing the mind in the left hand of the mudra. Chris the lecturer also spoke about Zhengjue's "The Lancet of Seated Meditation", which Chris said could also be translated as "The Acupuncture Needle of Seated Meditation". Chris talked about the last lines: The water is clear right through to the bottom; A fish goes lazily along. The sky is vast without horizon; A bird flies far far away. Chris mentioned that the acupuncture needle was a reference to mind, maybe because the title is "zazenshin". I don't know if his translation information is correct, but I like to think that makes the poem title "The acupuncture mind of seated meditation". This would be what I'm talking about, the cranial-sacral respiration and the pulmonary respiration use the place of occurrence of consciousness to effect stretch and open feeling, in a kind of healing acupuncture by mind. Here's the whole poem, from the Stanford project (zazenshin): LANCET OF SEATED MEDITATION by Zhengjue by imperial designation the Chan Master Spacious Wisdom Essential function of buddha after buddha, Functioning essence of ancestor after ancestor -- It knows without touching things; It illumines without facing objects. Knowing without touching things, Its knowing is inherently subtle; Illumining without facing objects, Its illumining is inherently mysterious. Its knowing inherently subtle, It is ever without discriminatory thought; Its illumining inherently mysterious, It is ever without a hair's breadth of sign. Ever without discriminatory thought, Its knowing is rare without peer; Ever without a hair's breadth of sign, Its illumining comprehends without grasping. The water is clear right through to the bottom; A fish goes lazily along. The sky is vast without horizon; A bird flies far far away. Nice poem, and the curious part of it is that Zhengjue is talking about two things through the whole poem, yet the title is about the mind/healing needle of zazen.

its end is the start of deep fractal recursion woven, slanted light (nope!- ...awesome.)

sometimes a half-lie- that's true, thought the golfer, as he tapped off the twig he tapped off the twig still, he thought, better half-lie than true lie in the trap

Hi, Lucky7Strikes, can you expand on the "it has never come about"- I guess in a certain sense cause and effect are irrelevant to being, perhaps that's the meaning? Consciousness has impact, I would say the place of occurrence of consciousness has impact on the fascial stretch in existence at the moment, and the activity out of stretch can open feeling. If I can stay with the sensations that arise with stretch just long enough, the ability to feel is like a magnet that will bring the sequence of awarenesses back when I relax and calm down. Practice is just well-being, and the only place is the location I feel. Does the location in mind sit when I sit, I ask myself, or what is this I feel? You know how it goes!

steady rollin' home guinessed and beautied again balled up in a knot

The buddhist monk Fuxi wrote a poem in about the fifth century C.E. that went like this: An empty hand grasps the hoe-handle Walking along, I ride the ox The ox crosses the wooden bridge The bridge is flowing, the water is still I have been corresponding with John (apepch7) about some of the ancient Egyptian symbols, and in the course of our exchange I came up with this explanation of the Egyptian ankh and the last line of Fuxi's poem: "For me, the key is the notion that the place of occurrence of consciousness leads the balance of the body, and so has impact on the fascial stretch that is in existence as consciousness takes place. The stretch of fascia can generate nerve impulses that cause muscles to contract, so there is action as a result of balance as consciousness takes place; this is usually subtle, amounting to no more than our normal postural adjustments and our preconscious reactions to sudden sensory overload. In Tai-Chi, the single-weight posture shows us the movement out of fascial stretch. At least, I think it does! When I get all my weight on one leg, I feel the arrow in the stretched bow wanting to fly in the other direction, so to speak. If I relax, the movements flow out of the postures. In one of my writings I describe the place of occurrence of consciousness as a tool used by the two autonomic respirations to initiate the activity necessary to open feeling from the spine through the body to the skin and hair. I make this description because I know that at some point in my practice, volition in the body affecting the movement of breath ceases, and instead the activity of the body appears to be just part of the breath. In the lotus, the stretches induced by the cranial-sacral rhythm at the sacrum are brought forward, but they are there in any upright posture; these stretches generate activity that allows the whole body to be a part of the movement of the breath in, and of the movement of the breath out. This might be the meaning of the ankh (an Egyptian symbol); the activity generated by the cranial-sacral rhythm enters into the activity of breath (the ankh resembles the cross-section of a spinal vertebrae; in one painting, the ankh projects from the palm of the goddess Isis toward the nose of Queen Nefertari). The mind moves, and activity and feeling follow. Because the occurrence of mind, of consciousness, has impact on the fascial stretch, there is a bridge (the "bridge" is the fascial stretch that the weight of the body impacts with the occurrence of consciousness). Because the occurrence of consciousness is freed as feeling is opened, the process is self-enabling, and the bridge "flows". Because the activity necessary to breath can now be generated from the place of occurrence of consciousness, without the habitual exercise of volition, the undercurrent of volitive activity is cut off. Hence, the bridge is flowing, the water is not." I wanted to offer my explanation to everybody as a starting place for talking about Fuxi's poem, even though it's a little long. Hopefully this is about Taoism, as well as Buddhism (and Egyptianism, for that matter); I look forward to hearing what everybody has to say, and thanks to the authors of Tao Bums for making it possible!

but about that bridge; here's Shunryu Suzuki from David Chadwick's Crooked Cucumber site (wonderful interviews with the early SF Zen Center guinea pigs, who bore the brunt of the difficulties of the start-up institution): "When you see something, you may think that you are watching something else [outside yourself]. But, actually, you are watching your mudra or your toe. That is why zazen practice represents the whole universe. We should do zazen with this feeling in our practice. You should not say, "I practice zazen with my body." It is not so. Dogen-zenji says, "Water does not flow, but the bridge flows." 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." Don't think it was Dogen, it was Fuxi in 6th century C.E. China. Mind is moving describes the way consciousness moves the balance of the body, simply by taking place; I don't experience the mind as moving until the mind is a part of the breathing and the balance, but this is as close as dropping the mind and body. The water is still is the difficult thing to describe; I think this is a description of how volitive action, willful action normally affects the movement of breath, but when the mind is a part of the breathing and the balance, then the movement of breath effects the location of mind, as it were. The bridge is moving, yo. You can walk on the bridge, Marblehead, but you'd best make like an ox. Here's my song: walk like an oxen bark like a dog forget about romance and roll like a log that's what it takes, to keep a love alive; that's what it takes, to keep a love alive. maybe someday I'll get a chance to sing it for you, ha ha. My girl is laughin' at me for chuckling to myself, that's a good thing!

you guys are weirdos. BS mathematics, UCSC 1972. Love ya!

this as if it does that as if it doesn't- then, guiness it good, sure

Two more from the gift of the King of Siam to Rhys Davids (Pali Text Society translations of the Pali Sutta sermon volumes): "When it is said: 'One should know how to judge what happiness is; having known how to judge what happiness is, one should be intent on inward happiness,' in reference to what was it said? These five... are the strands of sense-pleasures. What five? Material shapes cognizable by the eye... sounds cognizable by the ear... smells cognizable by the nose... tastes cognizable by the tongue... touches cognizable by the body, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasure, alluring. These... are the five strands of sense pleasure. Whatever happiness or joy... arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasure is said to be a happiness of sense-pleasures..., an [ignoble] happiness. [As to this, an individual], aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, enters on and abides , the in the first meditation... the second... the third... the fourth meditation. This is said to be the happiness of renunciation, the happiness of aloofness, the happiness of tranquillity, the happiness of self-awakening. ...When it is said: 'One should know how to judge what happiness is; having known how to judge what happiness is, one should be intent on inward happiness,' it is said in reference to this." (Majjhima Nikaya III 233-234, Pali Text Society translation volume 3 pg 281- bracketed material paraphrases original) Only when it is said, though. "But the situation occurs, Ananda, when wanderers belonging to other sects may speak thus: 'The recluse Gautama speaks of the stopping of perceiving and feeling, and lays down that this belongs to happiness. Now what is this, now how is this?' Ananda, wanderers belonging to other sects who speak thus should be spoken to thus: 'Your reverences, [Gautama] does not lay down that it is only pleasant feeling that belongs to happiness; for, your reverences, the Tathagata lays down that whenever, wherever, whatever happiness is found it belongs to happiness.'" (Majjhima Nikaya I 400, Pali Text Society translations volume 2 pg 69) Taoists, recluses of other sects?- "whenever, wherever, whatever happiness is found..." which way did Bunny go, she left her sunglasses in her teacup.

"Reality is more what you'd call "guidelines"... (a slight rephrase of Captain Barbossa's line "...the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules", from The Curse of the Black Pearl) Nice to hear from you!

Fun, fun, fun!

enslaves all this way dance to the bullet's whistle old knot holes that sing (sorry for "another bitter cup"- should 'a been "one more bitter cup")

ok, I agree that the trance states are not subject to measure, and the purpose of trance or of practice is still a subject of debate here and elsewhere. The Gautamid said something like, "for whatever you think it is, it is otherwise", talking about the trance states. I agree that there is something about the teaching, or the teachings, that we have from the East that has to be experienced to be believed, and that would be action without conscious volition. Since action without conscious volition depends to some extent on what we believe, there's a catch 22: can't believe it until we experience it, can't experience it until we believe it. In the end, I think we break into a place where we have always been sleeping, and experience ourselves sleeping awake. This happens because we have discovered the need, in our very breath. I'm going on the theory that there are a lot of people who practice very hard and can let go completely if they witness the action that already occurs without volition, action that is initiated by the fascial tissues as consciousness takes place, action as simple as sitting on a cushion. Remains to be seen, whether I can take my own advice, but I think it helps me to talk it out. Thanks.

Hey, Mr. A., Can you write about the Pyramid Texts of Unas, and why you see them as key? Maybe you already have, is there a link? thank you, Mr. M F

gone is the sweet-tooth arrived, the five-flavored tongue another bitter cup

just remnants singing under the theatre's boards precious few moments

are, responsible pirates be never so bad as when they be that (slight fudge)

Thanks for reading my post, Lucky7Strikes; I can hardly make sense of it rereading it. Have to make more of an effort to talk to myself, I guess, 'cause it seems I get confused when I think I'm talking to anyone else. My own thought this morning was that my understanding must change like everything else, and I am well-served by Tao Bums so long as I aim to say the thing fresh, as it were. I'm not happy until the weight of my body is in it. The weight of my body is not in it unless it's a necessity of breath. Where's the joy in that, you might ask, and I am so lucky to have made the acquaintance of apepch7 with those beautiful symbols of ancient Egypt when I ask myself that: I'm convinced it's the Ankh entering the breath. Here's the illustration: How does the occurrence of consciousness, sans intent, generate the activity of the current posture? Bouncing off the stretch in existence at the moment, the occurrence of consciousness leads the balance to shift the weight of the body into the stretch. That stretch depends on the cranial-sacral rhythm, and in particular on the way the movement at the sacrum stretches fascia and ligaments. I have an animation, here: The Bridge is Flowing Nothing to be done, but the occurrence of consciousness has impact, and the impact causes activity that opens feeling. The witness of attachment, aversion, or ignorance with respect to feeling is spontaneous, too. In sum, awareness is action, even without intent. Nothing to be done, but awareness is action, even the simple awareness of the parts of the body in sitting.

know not where or when sink and roll and press again for the joy of it

hey, Lucky7Strikes, thanks for the thread. My experience is that in the moment where I witness how the place of occurrence of consciousness is conditioned by attachment to the pleasant, or aversion to the painful, or ignorance of the neutral feeling, in that very moment the occurrence of consciousness is freed. It's not that I do something, make an effort to see something; I suffer, I witness, I is gone. Sort of. What I do notice is that although I can act from some kind of preconscious or unconscious place, like a state of self-hypnosis, it's my beliefs that ultimately determine that action. And what I think and experience goes into my beliefs. Also, the ability to feel throughout the body and seemingly beyond the boundaries of the senses is drawing me inexorably, and if I imagine I can do otherwise than surrender my actions become circular. I run in circles, over short or long periods of time. So I agree, there is no volition that doesn't result in a station of consciousness (as the Gautamid put it), and consequently the whole sequence ending with the five skandas, or "groups of grasping (after a notion of self). At the same time, there is nothing we can do about it, except accept our own well-being and happiness as an inexorable force in our lives. Can't even do that, really, can we? Hey, Ralis, nice to see your ugly face (love that picture)! two-cents; thanks again, Lucky7Strikes, for falling up with this...

buddhism.about.com, "Huineng, Sixth Patriarch of Zen Huineng tearing sutras to shreds (from "Huineng, Sixth Patriarch of Zen") Our body is the bodhi tree And our mind a mirror bright. Carefully we wipe them hour by hour And let no dust alight. Shen-hsiu (Shenxiu) There is no bodhi tree Nor stand of a mirror bright. Since all is void, Where can the dust alight? Huineng

lengthen the spaces between the strides, sink and roll waves of pavement stretch