Mark Foote

yet energies ease as the dawn breaks and the sun rises as mind full

As the small group approaches the park, the sage is startled to see a crowd of people gathered in a corner of the park, seated around an placid individual in the lotus and engaged in some discussion. The sage shakes his head, and there is only mist in the park and his group of followers, muttering among themselves in the chill morning air.

Vewwy Intawestin', that T-STRETCH post and thread. I do stretch my hamstrings. Sat 50 minutes this morning, no numbness; this is the year my theory meets my practice, evidently- it's been a long time coming. The real stretching is involuntary, I think, occasioned by activity which is set in motion by the stretching itself. The trick for me is to recognize the motion at the sacrum, and at the hips, and in the muscles under the pelvis from the inside of the pelvis to the hips and the sacrum. There are bursa to allow the obturators to slide under the sciatic notch, and to allow the psoas to slide over the pubic bone. The obturators will "hammock" the pelvis off the hips slightly, as Blandine-Calais points out in "Anatomy of Movement" (an anatomy book for dancers). The piriformis will rotate the sacrum opposite the rotation of the pelvis initiated by the sartorius, which then sends the activity up the extensors in three sets to move the parietals (the bones on either side of the crown of the head), largely because the fascia behind the sacrum restricts the expansion of the extensors there (and forces the sacrum to move). The sacrum won't rotate unless the lower vertebrae of the spine find support in the two sets of ilio-lumbar ligaments, alternately with the breath in and out. Drew, sounds like you are truly an adept with this stuff; I like the flow of your description. If anybody wants a little more organized version of my anatomy above, in the context of a description of how the pulmonary and cranial-sacral respirations use the place of occurrence of consciousness to open feeling in the body, see the "the mudra of zen" at www.zenmudra.com (and also see the essays at the bottom of that page). I think our struggle is to find accurate and understandable ways to share the basis of the practice based on tenacious strength (standing or sitting), and I appreciate Tao Bums very much as an avenue for us all to express ourselves and move toward the integration of East and West.

leave only footprints in the tub- no bars of soap no backscratching rakes

Not hearing the conversation and not seeing what the sage had passed the seeker, one of the novices across the room leaned over to his benchmate and whispered, "why did that disciple get transmission- he is, like, totally into the physical, not spiritual at all- I don't see why I don't deserve recognition as much as that unworthy one, where are my lineage papers?"

If you want a different approach, check my website: www.zenmudra.com I thought my experience would translate into progress at the lotus, but after a lot of years, I decided I would have to figure it out, instead. So here's the story: as Carl Bielefeldt translated a master's words in the first edition of Dogen's Meditation Manuals, "seated meditation is not holding still". The fascia and ligaments of the body can generate muscular activity, involuntarily, if they are stretched sufficiently. Since the muscles and fascia are basically in pairs, the action of posture is fundamentally the reciprocal innervation of muscular tissue as the stretch of fascia alternates from side to side. The basic stretches you are interested in for the lotus are the stretches of the fascia that connects the sacrum to the pelvis; the sacrum moves, forward and backward, side to side, and around with the changes in volume of the fluid in the dural sac, surrounding the brain and the spinal cord all the way down to the sacrum. The fascia that connect the sacrum to the sit bones stretches, and generates activity side to side; the fascia that connects the sacrum to the forward undersides of the pelvis generates swivel activity left and right; and the fascia that connects the sacrum to the wings of the pelvis stretches and generates motion forward and back. Watch the motion of the sacrum, relax and look for feeling as the location of the occurrence of consciousness leads the motion of the body, in the legs and throughout the body. The presence of feeling is the correct alignment of the spine, and you will have to open a bit to pleasant and unpleasant feelings with the occurrence of consciousness in order to realize the stretch that generates the activity of the lotus. Thanks.

Like that answer about experience; here's a story: A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?" "Who are you?" inquired Hakuin. "I am a samurai", the warrior replied. "You, a soldier!" sneered Hakuin, "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? You look like a beggar". Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword. Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably to dull to cut off my head." Nobushige drew his sword. Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!" At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, put away his sword and bowed. "Here open the gates of paradise", said Hakuin. From 'Zen flesh, Zen bones' About spirits and hungry ghosts, my only source is "Far Journeys", by Monroe. An insurance salesman from New Jersey, who discovered he could get out of body, and he kept journals. Maybe it's made up, but if truth really is stranger than fiction, than maybe it's not made up because what happened to him was really strange. One thing Munroe found; he had trouble getting back into his body, until he learned to tune into his breath. That brought him straight back every time, or so he said.

when we know nothing even tao bums are old friends what a world this is

(this from my friend maradann, whom I am introducing to the wonders of Tao Bum haiku ) raising the dead past in a dream we walk up steps his hand warm in mine

Dance to the music chopping water, lifting wood watch me drop these pants watch me drop these pants when death comes calling, and run naked into light (two for one Saturday!- Tao Bums take note!)

ration the in-outs speak kindly to neighbors, take only what you brought

flush these thoughts away sweaty and achy, burned out winter crows that sing

I watch my cup fill tears cloud my eyes, at the sounds of old friends and tea

Hey, exorcist_1699, your English is really good! Thanks for your contributions, here. The Gautamid, later known as the Buddha (after his death, I believe), always started his description of setting up mindfulness with mindfulness of the body. After the suicide of dozens of his followers (they were practicing the meditation on the unlovely, which he prescribed), he taught that his own practice before and after enlightenment was "the intent contemplation on in-breaths and out-breaths", in sixteen points. Pretty physical. Myself, I think the difficulty with his teaching was two-fold: first, it's not possible to comprehend the long inhalation as long, the short inhalation as short, the long exhalation as long, and the short exhalation as short without some kind of awareness of involuntary cranial-sacral fluid activity; and second, it's not readily apparent to most people that equanimity in mind is a necessary component of activity out of stretch. There's a sermon in the third Majjhima Nikaya volume on the Great Six-fold Sense (Field), in which the Gautamid declares that anyone who experiences as it really is sense-object, sense-organ, consciousness arising from contact between sense-organ and sense-object, impact as a result of consciousness, and feeling in connection with impact has already done all that needs to be done with respect to the eight-fold path, and develops all the various components of enlightenment. That's pretty physical. I'd like to throw my two-cents in about the 500 years. I believe I have read (maybe in Warder's "Indian Buddhism") that the 500 years is not explicitly stated in the Pali Canon. Very interesting to me, though, that the teaching was only written down (in Ceylon) because the monks realized that the oral tradition was in danger of losing a few volumes; that was about 500 years after the teacher. Yes, there is a discussion in which the Buddha declares he was against admitting women because it would shorten the life of the order; he made an analogy about women and bandits, stating that just as the strength of men better enables them to survive bandits, so too the order would survive longer without women. something like that. Tao Meow, the canon was carried into Tibet and China, as well as Ceylon (and Burma, and Thailand), so it survived the Moslem invasion. According to Warder, Buddhism was already on the decline in India at the time of the invasion; the Hindu faith was reclaiming the majority. Warder made a point of comparing the extant pieces of the sermon and discipline volumes between the Thai, Tibetan, and Chinese editions to study the history of Buddhism in India. It's in Warder's volume that I learned that the original split between Theravada and Mahayana was due to a disagreement over whether an enlightened individual could be "seduced by a succubus" (could have a wet dream). As Shunryu Suzuki said, "life is much too important to take seriously", or something to that effect. good night, all!- Mark p.s.- I see above that the Muslims you refer to, Tao Meow, were much later than those I'm referring to. Delay in post posting!

such is the meaning in old age ageless again as never before

Ah...Le Tour De France! so much pride, in her country when she said, je t'aime

waiting for the rains... will it come, will it come- both and none, swirl, fall, rise

Dr. John Lee at a lecture in Mendocino noted that the nerves responsible for the myelin sheath require progeterone to do their job- this was at a lecture he gave in Mendocino in 1995. He was trying to explain why many of his patients using progest reported a decrease in their arthritis-bursitis conditions. Interesting to me that his patients reported generally improved health, and so do patients given physiologic doses of hydro-cortisone, or physiologic doses of thyroid hormone (physiologic meaning dosage amounts close to what the body produces naturally). Dr. Michael Shame (I think it is) in Marin was part of a team examining folks exposed to a Chevron plant release, and he found that while all the symptoms went away within a few months (runny nose or eyes kind of thing), the immune systems of the people exposed were still hyper a year after the event. Dr. Shame figured there was a relationship between the depressed health and the repression of normal thyroid function by a hyper immune system, and he saw health improvements in patients who were only borderline low thyroid. reminds me that I think I forgot my progesterone today... how many guys out there use progest, or similar? I started using it for achy joints in a coastal town, but I think it gives me energy.

write a line or two go with the flow, resonate leave this world behind

well excuse me interrupting, hopefully you and Serene won't mind. I have faith in my body, too, and there's an interesting relationship between opening my mind to pleasure or pain and the level of feeling I have. I think maybe the thing you strive for is more feeling- I mean overall, and inside and out kind of feeling. My study is that the occurrence of mind is used by the respiration of the lungs and of the cranial-sacral fluid to open feeling throughout the body. I can't control it, and I crave it. Is it about staying with the mind? Of course, but at the first intention the mind is lost. The feeling-pictures I've had pull me on, I have no choice if I really am honest with myself. Science of well-being, is just the science of fully feeling, my opinion.

Krishna bathed in blue a thousand spires of sunlight trailing in the dark

just follow the signs and know where you are, dusk light, dawn, forest, trees; heart.

pecks eyes like black fire for no good reason at all snow lies underfoot

Bunny slammed the small dictionary down, making her way around the far side of the long dark-wood table away from the Sage, and said "you can leave it when you're done." The Sage watched her go, and listened to her heels and the whir of the air-conditioning under the light of the single overhead flourescent fixture. His eyes turned to the cover of the dictionary, which said "Small Illustrated Pocket Medical Dictionary". What in the world could that have to say about happiness, he wondered, as he fingered the condom in his pocket.