Mark Foote

And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) Doesn't sound to me as though speech, deed, and thought have ceased--only speech, deed, and thought that follow from "determinate thought". You're asking is that possible? That is saying "determinate thought" gives rise to thought, yes. Not saying that thought is always preceded by volition and choice. I would say it happens all the time--spontaneity, as liminal_luke suggested. Why people alter their consciousness, and have throughout history, though I don't necessarily recommend that. There are actually a couple of sermons where the question is raised with senior monks, not with Gautama himself--someone asks, what's the difference between a person for whom "perception and feeling" have "ceased" and a corpse? It's not the cessation of perception and feeling per se, but the cessation of "determinate thought" in perception and feeling. Silly monks. Not about "enlightened retirement from the world". As I quoted above to liminal_luke, the piece in which I wove those quotations ends this way: Many people in the Buddhist community take enlightenment to be the goal of Buddhist practice. I would say that when a person consciously experiences automatic movement in the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, finding a way of life that allows for such experience in the natural course of things becomes the more pressing concern. Gautama taught such a way of living, although I don’t believe that such a way of living is unique to Buddhism. For a healthy way of life, the regular cessation of "determinate thought" in inhalation and exhalation, in action of the body, is a good thing. That's my conclusion. Please give a look at A Way of Living, there's some science, both Eastern and Western, behind why that is so. As far as I can tell, it's not necessary to attain enlightenment to make that cessation a regular thing

Yes. But so is this: Mayu, Zen master Baoche, was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, “Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?” “Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent,” Mayu replied, “you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.” “What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?” asked the monk again. Mayu just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply. (Dogen, "Genjo Koan", tr Tanahashi) Down there in my signature: When the location of attention can shift anywhere in the body as a function of the movement of breath, and the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows solely from the location of attention, there is a feeling of freedom. Freedom, like spontaneity. "The location of attention can shift anywhere in the body" as though in open space. That's not possible unless "there is no place (the wind) does not reach". "People on the other side of the wall, sit with you. They don't take the seated posture!", as Kobun said. When the activity of the body follows from the location of attention in the movement of breath, a perceived singularity in the location of attention may cause the hand to fan. Or the legs to get up and walk around. Que the twilight zone theme. Also a part of "Doing nothing, yet everything is done". The jumble of letters that is my latest post ends: Many people in the Buddhist community take enlightenment to be the goal of Buddhist practice. I would say that when a person consciously experiences automatic movement in the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, finding a way of life that allows for such experience in the natural course of things becomes the more pressing concern. Gautama taught such a way of living, although I don’t believe that such a way of living is unique to Buddhism. That about sums it up for me--how do we incorporate experience that takes place without "the intention of the everyday figuring-things-out mind", how do we leave the door open to that in everyday life?

Just to be clear, when I said, "can't lift a finger", what I meant was this: One time Huike climbed up Few Houses Peak with Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma asked, "Where are we going?" Huike said, "Please go right ahead--that's it." Bodhidharma said, "If you go right ahead, you cannot move a step." ("Transmission of LIght (Denkoroku)", tr Cleary, p 111) Action by intention results in a circle of consequences that returns to the place of origin--that is to say, one hasn't moved a step, in the larger picture. The presumption being, that action can take place without intention. The ouija board finished the post I've been quoting from, here: A Way of Living It's just a jumble of letters, sorry about that!

Gautama’s teaching revolved around action, around one specific kind of action: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) “When one determines”—when a person exercises volition, or choice, action of “deed, word, or thought” follows. Gautama also spoke of “the activities”. The activities are the actions that take place as a consequence of the exercise of volition: “And what are the activities? These are the three activities:--those of deed, speech and mind. These are activities.” (SN II 3, PTS vol II p 4) Gautama claimed that a ceasing of “action” is possible: And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) He spoke in detail about how “the activities” come to cease: “…I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. When one has attained the first trance, speech has ceased. When one has attained the second trance, thought initial and sustained has ceased. When one has attained the third trance, zest has ceased. When one has attained the fourth trance, inbreathing and outbreathing have ceased… Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling.” (SN IV 217, PTS vol IV p 146) Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (The disciple), aloof from sensuality, aloof from evil conditions, enters on the first trance, which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, which is born of solitude, easeful and zestful, and abides therein. (SN v 198, PTS vol V p 174, SN “noble” substituted for Ariyan)

I agree that emotions, particularly the deeply-rooted emotions that show up as though out of nowhere, leave me feeling like I've suddenly been dropped in a jungle that was there all along but that I am nevertheless clueless to navigate. That's what I liked about Goleman's work, if I understand him correctly there's a kind of flight-or-fight emotional response to some situations that has to be recognized and responded to in real time in order to resolve the underlying issues. At least it's some insight for me into jungle etiquette. I agree that finding my way to well-being is the real concern. For me the interface between "the internal" and "the external" is dynamic: The internal develops the ch’i; the external develops the sinews, bones, and skin. (“Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on T’ai-Chi Ch’uan”, translated by Wile, 1st ed pg 39) The central channel is usually associated with the nadis of Indian yoga, yes? There's a phenomena that I think is common to both the Indian and Chinese inner arts--in the terminology of the Tai-Chi classics: ... the ch’i moves through the sacrum (wei lu) to the top of the head (ni wan)... (“Three Levels” from “Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on Ta’i Chi Chuan”, Cheng Man Ch’ing, trans. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn, p 77-78) Gautama's description was a little different: … it is as if (a person) might be sitting down who had clothed (themselves) including (their) head with a white cloth; there would be no part of (their) whole body that was not covered by the white cloth. (MN III 94, Pali Text Society Vol. III pg 134) I believe Gautama's metaphor describes a heightened ability to feel dermatomes, as a consequence of the relaxed nerve exits from the sacrum and spine provided by an even stretch of ligaments. In some sermons Gautama only referred to the feeling of a cloth around the head, not swaddling the whole body, which is more in keeping with the passage of the ch'i to the "ni-wan". I don't think it's possible for me to develop the internal without distinguishing patterns in the circulation of activity that belong to "the external", but neither is it possible for me to develop "the external" without the "one-pointed" placement of attention in the movement of breath that constitutes "the internal". Seems like everybody wants to get to heaven, but nobody wants to die the "great death" to get there.

As you might gather from my last post, with the bit about the "new paradigm", no--some of us don't agree with the lama. "Transforming oneself into the body of perfect enlightenment"--reminiscent of liminal_luke's attempt to get his clients to change themselves into more relaxed bodies. (conversation between Nanyue and Daoyi ("Ma"), famous in the Ch'an literature of China) “Great Worthy, what are you aiming at by sitting meditation?” Ma replied, “I aim to become a Buddha.” Nanyue then took a tile and began to rub it on a rock in front of the hermitage; Ma asked him what he was doing rubbing the tile. Nanyue said, “I am polishing it to make a mirror.” Ma said, “How can you make a mirror by polishing a tile?” Nanyue said, “Granted that rubbing a tile will not make a mirror, how can sitting meditation make a Buddha?” Ma asked, “Then what would be right?” Nanyue said, “It is like the case of an ox pulling a cart: if the cart does not go, would it be right to hit the cart, or would it be right to hit the ox?” (from the Pacific Zen Institute's blog, https://www.pacificzen.org/library/koan/tile-polishing/) If I want to hit the ox, I have to be aware of where the ox is. In my school, there are only two kinds of sickness. One is to go looking for the donkey while riding the donkey. The other is to be unwilling to dismount once having mounted the donkey. ... I tell you that you need not mount the donkey; you are the donkey. (Foyan, "Instant Zen", tr Cleary) There's Buddha-nature for you, just being a donkey!

Forcing me to my bookshelf, people. Thanks, I think... From Daniel Goleman's introduction to the 10th anniversary edition of "Emotional Intelligence": In Illinois, for instance, specific learning standards in SEL ("social and emotional learning") abilities have been established for every grade from kindergarten through the last year of high school. To give just one example of a remarkably detailed and comprehensive curriculum, in the early elementary years students should learn to recognize and accurately label their emotions and how they lead them to act. By the late elementary years lessons in empathy should make children able to identify the nonverbal clues to how someone else feels; in junior high they should be able to analyze what creates stress for them or what motivates their best performance. And in high school, the SEL skills include listening and talking in ways that resolve conflicts instead of escalating them, and negotiating for win-win solutions. ("Emotional Intelligence", Daniel Goleman, p X) We should all have been so fortunate as to have had some of the Illinois curriculum in our background! Meanwhile--Goleman's main theme: The most ancient root of our emotional life is in the sense of smell, or more precisely, in the olfactory lobe... From the olfactory lobe the ancient centers for emotion began to evolve, eventually growing large enough to encircle the brain stem... With the arrival of the first mammals came new, key layers... roughly like a bagel where the brainstem nestles into them. ... this part of the brain... was called the "limbic" system... As it evolved, the limbic system refined two powerful tools: learning and memory. ... The homo sapiens neocortex, so much larger than any other species... allowed the addition of nuance to emotional life. ... (The) higher centers do not govern all of emotional life; in crucial matters of the heart--and most especially in emotional emergencies--they may be said to defer to the limbic system. ... The hippocampus and the amygdala were the two key parts of the primitive "nose brain". ... More than affection is tied to the amygdala; all passion depends on it. Animals that have their amygdala removed or severed lack fear and rage, lose the urge to compete or cooperate, and no longer have any sense of their place in their kind's social order... LeDoux's research explains how the amygdala can take control over what we do even as the thinking brain, the neocortex, is still coming to a decision. (ibid, p 13-15) Goleman goes on to discuss how the amygdala is responsible for moments when impulsive feelings overcome the rational. A lot of it, he concludes, is early memories stored in the amygdala. Emotional explosions, he says, are neural hijackings. Also finding a joke uproarious. ... this leads Dr. Damasio to the counter-intuitive proposition that feelings are typically indispensable for rational decisions; they point us in the proper direction, where dry logic can then be of best use. ... the old paradigm held an ideal of reason freed from the pull of emotion. The new paradigm urges us to harmonize head and heart. (ibid, p 28-29)

You're welcome. I think Gautama was referring to the role of volition in what we see, speaking to the cessation of volition in what we see. The normal world, sans "I am the see'er, mine is the see'er". Beautifully said. the awareness of daylight, maybe, in first person experience. Exactly. From my current, in-progress piece: In my experience, the “placement of attention” by the movement of breath only occurs freely in what Gautama described as “the fourth musing”: Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III pg 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS pg 132-134) The “pureness of mind” refers to the absence of any intent in the observation of the activity of the body. Suffusing the body with “purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” is widening awareness so that there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot become the location where attention is placed. I would say that the placement of attention by the movement of breath is actually a common experience for everyone, if at no other time, then in falling asleep. Why would Gautama teach the practice of a common experience? Fundamentally speaking, the basis of the way is perfectly pervasive; how could it be contingent on practice and verification? The vehicle of the ancestors is naturally unrestricted; why should we expend sustained effort? Surely the whole being is far beyond defilement; who could believe in a method to polish it? Never is it apart from this very place; what is the use of a pilgrimage to practice it? (Eihei Dogen, “Koroku Kukan zazen gi”, tr Carl Bielefeldt, “Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation” UC Press 1988 p 175) Dogen’s questions are rhetorical, but I nevertheless believe they have an answer: there’s a particular frailty of the human body that can require practice to overcome, at least for some people.... (I go into some detail, starting with Feldenkrais's observation that some people sometimes hold their breath while getting up out of a chair, and his surmise that they do so to avoid shearing stresses on the lower spine). ... Gautama taught a way to sit down and establish the “one-pointedness” of mind that can shift as though in open space. ... Gautama taught the practice of a common experience, perhaps because the ability to return to such experience, although seemingly necessary for optimal health for many, is not common.... Common sense turns out to be uncommon--how do we correct that, when we can't lift a finger. Ah, yes.

death dying aeons Whatever rocks your boat, but the shore's not moving

“…I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. … Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling.” (SN IV 217, PTS vol IV p 146) "... certain feelings and sensations (probably not the right word but bear with me)..." "Feelings and perceptions", maybe? "The cessation of perception and feeling", also translated as "the cessation of feeling and perceiving"--that would be, the cessation of "determinate thought", or volition, in the actions of feeling and perceiving. Might fit with your description: A feeling of inner unity which focusses in the heart, immense clarity as if one's eyes had opened for the first time, the loss of any gap between the perceiver and the perceived... No gap because the agency in perception, the "do'er", has ceased. I don't know. Can't say I've had that experience, flat out. Don't know what the "flood of light" would be, although in Gautama's recipe for psychic power, the final part is: “Thus with wits alert, with wits unhampered, he cultivates his mind to brilliancy” (Sanyutta-Nikaya V 263, Pali Text Society vol 5 p 235) Gautama explained that line by saying that "(one) cultivates (one's) mind to brilliancy” when one's “consciousness of light is well grasped, his consciousness of daylight is well-sustained.” Something to do with the pineal, there? "The cessation of feeling and perceiving" is marked by a happiness, but maybe not the kind most people think of. … 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 Tathagatha (the “Thus-Gone One”, the Buddha) lays down that whenever, wherever, whatever happiness is found it belongs to happiness. (MN I 400, Pali Text Society MN Vol. II pg 69) Gautama amazes me for the consistency of his road map. Because his concern is the cessation of volition, first in speech, then in the body (particularly in inhalation and exhalation), and finally in the mind (particularly in feeling and perceiving), he's not going to say, "do this, do that"--at least not when it comes to the states of concentration. Instead, he says the states of concentration are attained through "lack of desire, by means of lack of desire", and he points out the features of the landscape. For me, the main concern has been how to relinquish “latent conceits that ‘I am the doer, mine is the doer’ in regard to this consciousness-informed body” and still be a functional part of society.

中 (middle), left & right channels, not the shopping kind bright sun on the lake

I try to stick to the positive and substantive, but lately I am making an exception. Gautama described the feeling of the fourth concentration with a double negation: Again, a (person), putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III pg 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS pg 132-134--italics added) The explanation that I've cobbled together runs: The “pureness of mind” stems from the cessation of “determinate thought” with regard to the body. Suffusing the body with “purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind” is opening the body to the placement of attention by the movement of breath, widening awareness so that there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot become the location where attention is placed. To say "widening awareness so that any particle of the body can become the location where attention is placed" would not match up with my experience. I don't take it all in as a whole, I have to hold space for the one singularity of attention at a time. There are some four-fold negations in the teaching. There's a school of mathematics (intuitionism) that believes that one of the four classic axioms of logic is not valid, "the law of the excluded middle": "either A or not A" (A ^ ~A). Quite the dust-up, in twentieth century mathematics. Looks like the issue was more or less resolved by Kurt Gödel, the same guy that presented Einstein with a solution to the equations of relativity that allowed time travel, which caused Einstein to doubt his own equations. In his lecture in 1941 at Yale and the subsequent paper, Gödel proposed a solution: "that the negation of a universal proposition was to be understood as asserting the existence … of a counterexample" (Dawson, p. 157) (Wikipedia, "Law of the Excluded Middle") The four-fold negation in the teaching: In the West, the catuskoti is often called by its Greek equivalent, the tetralemma, meaning ‘four-corners’. The four corners are four options that one might take on some question: given any question, there are four possibilities, yes, no, both, and neither. Who first formulated this thought seems to be lost in the mists of time, but it seems to be fairly orthodox in the intellectual circles of Gotama, the historical Buddha (c. 6c BCE). Thus, canonical Buddhist texts often set up issues in terms of these four possibilities. ("THE LOGIC OF THE CATUSKOTI", Graham Priest, https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=comparativephilosophy) Graham does back-flips to avoid the law of the excluded middle in a pure logic formulation of the catuskoti. I know you're interested, old3bob (probably not...).

slaves to slavery of the shopping channel kind rolling of the eyes

Something I wrote years ago about waking up and falling asleep: Just before I fall asleep, my awareness can move very readily, and my sense of where I am tends to move with it. This is also true when I am waking up, although it can be harder to recognize (I tend to live through my eyes in the daytime, and associate my sense of place with them). When my awareness shifts readily, I realize that my ability to feel my location in space is made possible in part by the freedom of my awareness to move. I sometimes overlook my location in space because I attach to what I’m feeling, or I’m averse to it, or I ignore it. The result is that I lose the freedom of my awareness to shift and move, and I have difficulty relaxing or staying alert. When I allow what I feel to enter into where I am, then my awareness remains free, and I can relax and keep my wits about me. Something I wrote recently, really about the same thing: “One-pointedness” can shift, as every particle of the body (with no part left out) comes into the placement of attention. At the moment when “one-pointedness” can shift as though in open space, the influence of volition or habit on the activity of inhalation and exhalation ceases altogether. Something somebody else said: …I say that determinate thought is action. When one determines, one acts by deed, word, or thought. (AN III 415, Pali Text Society Vol III p 294) And what… is the ceasing of action? That ceasing of action by body, speech, and mind, by which one contacts freedom,–that is called ‘the ceasing of action’. (SN IV 145, Pali Text Society Vol IV p 85) “…I have seen that the ceasing of the activities is gradual. When one has attained the first trance, speech has ceased. When one has attained the second trance, thought initial and sustained has ceased. When one has attained the third trance, zest has ceased. When one has attained the fourth trance, inbreathing and outbreathing have ceased… Both perception and feeling have ceased when one has attained the cessation of perception and feeling.” (SN IV 217, PTS vol IV p 146) What does it have to do with the central channel? The internal develops the ch’i; the external develops the sinews, bones, and skin. (“Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on T’ai-Chi Ch’uan”, translated by Wile, 1st ed pg 39) I would posit that the patterns in the development of ch’i reflect involuntary activity of the body generated in the stretch of ligaments. There is, in addition, a possible mechanism of support for the spine from the displacement of the fascia behind the spine, a displacement that can be effected by pressure generated in the abdominal cavity and that may quite possibly depend on a push on the fascia behind the sacrum by the bulk of the extensor muscles, as they contract (see my Kinesthesiology of Fascial Support). What does that have with surfacing emotions hidden in the amygdala, and developing emotional intelligence (thanks, Goleman)--the experience of a freedom from action occasioned by "determinate thought" or volition I think is key. Or is it like euthymia, to all intents and purposes, Greek?

how else would you know how to breathe in, how breathe out dunno--mystery dunno--mystery the joy of impermanence a good day to die

Thanks for the recommendation. "Nondual Bliss", I like that! Reading about Maitipada (Wikipedia): Supposedly, he was expelled from the monastery after the abbot, Atiśa, discovered liquor in his dorms. His student days, before he went to south India and hit his prime.

Thanks for that. Bravo. Let me give you an example of what I mean, when I say that I think you should use first person pronouns: The commitment, however is not to them or me - it is to others. My current teacher is the primary driving force for the outreach program from SF Zen center to get brown-robe teachers out to smaller rural Zen centers that might not have a senior teacher. That might be a future role for me too. I can be anywhere and be of benefit, "actualizing enlightenment" where I am NOW. I personally would not have written that last sentence that way. I'm guessing you will feel the same, reading it with the first person pronouns. Using second and third person pronouns somehow removes me from the immediacy of what I'm saying. The planchette does not go to the same places, the places I need to hear, when I use the second person pronouns. Rule of thumb, if I don't need to hear it, likely nobody does. I have to say, you are the person I have doubts about, you and the teacher at the Zen Center who is setting you up for such a role in a rural community. I like Zen groups best when they are informal, without a teacher in the front of the room. Sort of like Dao Bums, a place to exchange ideas among folks who actually do have some kind of practice. I have had several teachers from Japan that I felt were helpful to me, and some Americans, but always they were in the role of fellow journeyers. Don't go anywhere you wouldn't go anyway, that would be my advice! The last time I was at Green Gulch was for a one-day sesshin, led by Reb. There was a forced dokusan, included at no extra charge! Strange to see the people with clip boards keeping track of attendance, all the young folks wanting to find their Zen but also having a hard time keeping the schedule required of them to be in residence at Green Gulch. The question Reb asked everybody in dokusan was something like, what is your highest aspiration? I know, not supposed to reveal the details of dokusan, but when it's forced and everybody is answering the same question, I think it's fair game. I answered "the cessation of volition, in the actions of body and mind." Something like that. I won't tell you what Reb said, but when he left the zendo that night, he turned and said, "goodnight, Zen buddies." Of course, I took it personally! But I'm still working on my posture, not all that pretty when I sit, and at that time my knees were starting to make 45 minutes very difficult (they want everyone in their seat 5 minutes prior to the start of zazen, at Green Gulch). Reb has great posture. Last time I heard him lecture, he told a story about how someone complimented him on a gesture he had made at the gym. So Reb.

One more thing, on "is there intention or effort in waking up?" From a post I made on my site, probably ten years ago: In 2005 I sat down and started to write, as I had many times before, with no clear idea about what I was going to say. I wrote about Moshe Feldenkrais and his three exercises for getting up out of a chair, I wrote about Ida Rolfe’s agonist/antagonist explanation of ligamentous support, and I wrote about John Upledger and the reciprocal innervation he felt while lying in an isolation tank. I explained at least to myself how the movement of breath and the shape of the spine could necessitate activity in the body, and even generate that activity involuntarily through the moment-to-moment sense of place connected with the occurrence of consciousness. When I picked up the pen again, I wrote a short piece for a friend about waking up. Three days after I finished the piece, I had a dream where Kobun came walking up to me as I was sitting at a cafe table reading a newspaper; he was in his robes, carrying a short stick. I told him I had new shoes; he said nothing, but he smiled with a big grin. I looked at the newspaper, and wondered what I could tell him that was new. I thought about what I had written, and I thought to myself “Kobun wouldn’t want to hear about that”, but I started to recall what I had written and to feel my sense of place. I woke up, and as I realized what had happened, I regretted not telling Kobun what I had written. (Kobun Chino Otogawa on Zazen [Remembering Kobun])

Well, thanks for that, I do appreciate it. This interests me, though I'm still a little confused about what text he's quoting from here: "Many great masters of India, such as Mahasukha – also known as Padmavajra – and likewise Saraha, Nagarjuna, Shabari, Tilopa, Naropa, Maitripa and others, as well as numerous great Kagyu masters of old, such as Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, Pagmodrupa and so forth, have all concurred that the ultimate mahamudra is the greatly blissful clear light mind manifested after causing the energy-winds to enter, abide and dissolve in the central energy-channel" Bindi is keen on working with that central energy-channel. I've been writing about the nine stages in three levels that Cheng Man-Ch'ing described for the development of ch'i. Does seem like there might be a parallel in the coupling of the last stage of "perfect clarity" with the development of ch'i, and the coupling of "clear light mind" with "causing the energy-winds to enter, abide, and dissolve in the central energy-channel". I felt, though, that Berzin was partial to the "everything happening all at once", instant "clear light mind", did the channel work in some previous lifetime approach. I guess I can understand that he would feel that way. I wish him good luck. Me, it's been clear to me from early on that I would have to teach myself the things I needed to know. Good to have heard Kobun speak a few times, though--good that he said things like "nobody masters zazen" (can't give you a source, oh well). That's reassuring to me--I guess I'm doing something right, then. Ha ha! Zazen is my teacher. Thanks, I'm satisfied with my fact checking, so far. And thanks for taking the time to relate some of the details of your journey. All these years, I've never wanted to buy or sew a robe, I've always just sat in street clothes. I haven't done that many sesshins, I guess. When I thought about applying to Sonoma Mountain for residence, Laura Kwong recommended I just practice at home, instead--I think that was good advice, for me. Good luck with the sewing!

Those words are from Dogen's "Genjo Koan", as translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi (he has several differing translations--this one is here). I'm sure you were thinking about the Pali Canon, written down in Pali 500 years after Gautama's demise--in Pali because that's the language the books arrived to Sri Lanka in. Sorry for the confusion. I look to find the place where I am in falling asleep, a lot. Also in sitting, and on the dance floor. Begrudgingly, before my coffee in waking up. Yeah, there is effort in waking up, before coffee and into the first sitting. Odd times throughout the day and if I wake up, at night, I look to find the place where I am. Can't really lay hold of that single-pointedness of mind without taking everything into locating the place where I am. And that, to me, is finding my way at this moment. From a post I'm working on, with everybody's help: Of course, the choiceless placement of attention in the movement of breath happens all the time, although not always consciously. Zen master Eihei Dogen detailed the contradiction he saw in advocating a practice that’s intended to bring a person to a place that they already know intimately: Fundamentally speaking, the basis of the way is perfectly pervasive; how could it be contingent on practice and verification? The vehicle of the ancestors is naturally unrestricted; why should we expend sustained effort? Surely the whole being is far beyond defilement; who could believe in a method to polish it? Never is it apart from this very place; what is the use of a pilgrimage to practice it? (Koroku Kukan zazen gi, tr Carl Bielefeldt, “Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation” UC Press 1988 p 175) Dogen’s questions are rhetorical, but I nevertheless believe they have an answer: there’s a particular frailty of the human body that can require practice to overcome. Moshe Feldenkrais described the reason some people hold their breath for an instant when getting up out of a chair: The tendency to hold one’s breath is instinctive, part of an attempt to prevent the establishment of shearing stresses or forces likely to shift the vertebrae horizontally, out of the vertical alignment of the spinal column that they constitute. (“Awareness Through Movement”, Moshe Feldenkrais, p 83) Holding one’s breath retains pressure in the abdomen. Medical researcher D. L. Bartilink remarked on the utility of a “tensed somatic cavity” in support of the spine: Animals undoubtedly make an extensive use of the protection of their spines by the tensed somatic cavity, and probably also use it as a support upon which muscles of posture find a hold… (“The Role of Abdominal Pressure in Relieving the Pressure on the Lumbar Intervertebral Discs”, J Bone Joint Surg Br 1957 Nov;39-B(4):718-25. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.39B4.718. 1957 https://boneandjoint.org.uk/article/10.1302/0301-620X.39B4.718) However, Bartilink noted that pressure in the abdominal cavity need not restrict the diaphragm: … Breathing can go on even when the abdomen is used as a support and cannot be relaxed. (Ibid) Feldenkrais suggested a practice to overcome the tendency to hold the breath... I'd best leave it at that, for now.

What about "when you find your place where you are", and "when you find your way at this moment"--these are the actionable efforts, are they not? The sources you've offered strike me as odd, in that they cite, for example, a work by the Dalai Lama, but the material is not offered in quotes. I'm left to assume that someone is summarizing and interpreting what the Dalai Lama wrote or said. Why not tell me what the Dalai Lama wrote or said, in quotes, with the source of the quotes (and even a page number, perhaps)? Until I have the quotes, I have to assume that there's a good chance someone has made their own interpretation of what the Dalai Lama (and others) had to say--"own interpretation" meaning, mis-interpretation. That's the whole thing, in what I write. The more I am in concert with the actual texts, and the ones that are considered the most historically reliable, the better my practice. I have to fact-check myself, no one else is going to do it. That's been my experience, so I work at it. I think somewhere that was also Gautama's recommendation--that if there was a dispute, the original teaching should be consulted. There are teachers I trust, but anonymous webpages don't rate, in that regard. I only study when I have to, old3bob--the Dao Bums makes me do it, ow, it hurts... I remember head-trips, on entheogens. Weird jet noises in the background, too. I'm not signing on. Mind with a big "M", maybe with a big "B" too--"Big Mind", make a lot of money, like Dennis! Yes, I'm a tad cynical. I know Suzuki used "big mind" a lot (because Chadwick told me so, and I trust him). Let's see here: We say, you know, when you eat you should eat. When you sleep, you should sleep [laughs]. That is the big mind, that is selflessness. And best way to get rid of small mind is just to, you know, sleep when you should sleep. Just get up when you should get up, without hesitation. Do you understand? (cuke.com, 69-08-18, http://www.cuke.com/Cucumber Project/lectures/srl-excerpt-big-mind.html) And the full story, from the "Zen Letters" of Yuanwu, translated by the Clearys: Layman Pang was with his whole family sitting around the fire. Layman Pang suddenly said, ‘Difficult, difficult–ten bushels of oil hemp spread out on a tree.’ Mrs. Pang said, ‘Easy, easy–on the tips of the hundred grasses, the meaning of Zen.’ Their daughter Lingzhao said, ‘Not difficult, not easy–eating when hungry, sleeping when tired’. Usually when I relate this story to people, most of them prefer Lingzhao’s remark for saving energy, and dislike what Old Man Pang and Old Lady Pang said about difficult and easy. This is nothing but ‘making interpretations by following the words’. People who think like this are far from getting to the root of the fundamental design. (“Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu”, trans. Cleary & Cleary, pg 41) "Not sure what you are driving at"--"I'm not picking up on what's being implied here. Maybe with an example?" Ha ha!

Here's some fun you could try: Okay… So, have your hands in the cosmic mudra, palms up, thumbs touching, and there’s this common instruction: place your mind here. Different people interpret this differently. Some people will say this means to place your attention here, meaning to keep your attention on your hands. It’s a way of turning the lens to where you are in space so that you’re not looking out here and out here and out here. It’s the positive version, perhaps, of ‘navel gazing’. The other way to understand this is to literally place your mind where your hands are–to relocate mind (let’s not say your mind) to your centre of gravity, so that mind is operating from a place other than your brain. Some traditions take this very seriously, this idea of moving your consciousness around the body. I wouldn’t recommend dedicating your life to it, but as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one. (“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by Koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site https://nyoho.com/2018/09/15/no-struggle-zazen-yojinki-part-6/) Waking Up and Falling Asleep I have a practice that I’d like to offer, something that I believe is already part of the general repertoire of this community, even though the details I will provide here are new. The practice I have in mind is a practice that everybody is already familiar with, even if they don’t think of it as a practice. What I’m referring to is waking up in the morning, or falling asleep at night; if you’ve ever had a hard time waking up or falling asleep, then you know that there can indeed be a practice! In my experience, the practice is the same, whether I am waking up or falling asleep: when I realize my physical sense of location in space, and realize it as it occurs from one moment to the next, then I wake up or fall asleep as appropriate. This practice is useful, when I wake up in the middle of the night and need to go back to sleep, or when I want to feel more physically alive in the morning. This practice is also useful when I want to feel my connection to everything around me, because my sense of place registers the contact of my awareness with each thing, as contact occurs. Just before I fall asleep, my awareness can move very readily, and my sense of where I am tends to move with it. This is also true when I am waking up, although it can be harder to recognize (I tend to live through my eyes in the daytime, and associate my sense of place with them). When my awareness shifts readily, I realize that my ability to feel my location in space is made possible in part by the freedom of my awareness to move. I sometimes overlook my location in space because I attach to what I’m feeling, or I’m averse to it, or I ignore it. The result is that I lose the freedom of my awareness to shift and move, and I have difficulty relaxing or staying alert. When I allow what I feel to enter into where I am, then my awareness remains free, and I can relax and keep my wits about me. (Waking Up and Falling Asleep, yours truly)

Speaking for myself, you are welcome to weave in threads from other traditions. It's the spice of Dao Bums!

Regarding Buddha nature, the quotes that have been given from Udana and sources in the fifth Nikaya I think are suspect, as that Nikaya was a later composition than the first four. The quote from Anguttara Nikaya, both Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Bhikkhu Bodhi are troubled by aspects of that sermon. Here's a little of what they had to say: This statement has engendered a great deal of controversy over the centuries. The commentary maintains that "mind" here refers to the bhavanga-citta, the momentary mental state between periods when the mental stream adverts to objects, but this statement raises more questions than it answers. There is no reference to the bhavanga-citta or the mental stream in any of the suttas (they appear first in an Abhidhamma treatise, the Patthana); and because the commentaries compare the bhavanga-citta to deep sleep, why is it called luminous? And why would the perception of its luminosity be a prerequisite for developing the mind? And further, if "mind" in this discourse means bhavanga-citta, what would it mean to develop the bhavanga-citta?... (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Pabhassara Sutta: Luminous) Pabhassaram idaṃ bhikkhave cittaṃ. The exact meaning of this statement has been a matter of contention that has spawned con- flicting interpretations. Mp identifies the “luminous mind” with the bhavaṅgacitta, an Abhidhamma concept denoting the type of mental event that occurs in the absence of active cognition. It corresponds, very roughly, to the subconscious or unconscious of modern psychology. The word bhavaṅga means “factor of exis- tence,” that is, the factor responsible for maintaining continuous personal identity throughout a given life and from one life to the next. However, the bhavaṅga is not a persistent state of con- sciousness, a permanent self. It is a series of momentary acts of mind that alternate with active cognitive processes (cittavīthi), sequences of cognition when the mind consciously appre- hends an object. Hence the texts sometimes use the expression bhavaṅgasota, “stream of bhavaṅga,” to highlight the fluid nature of this type of mental process. The occurrence of the bhavaṅga is most evident in deep, dreamless sleep, but it also occurs count- less times in waking life between cognitive processes. The most important events in the cognitive process are the javanacittas, ethically determinate occasions of consciousness that create kamma. The javanas may be either wholesome or unwholesome. It is in the javana phase that the defilements, dormant in the subconscious bhavaṅga, infiltrate mental activ- ity and defile the mind... (comment attributed to Bhikkyu Bodhi)

My understanding of the four truths is that they only apply when suffering exists. Very commonly, that first truth is read to imply that life is suffering. My take is that when suffering exists, so do the other three truths, but when suffering is not present, there's no need for any truths. WIth the grasping after self (small "s", not the Upanishads version you refer to), suffering is present. It's a natural human tendency, that grasping, so much so that the first of Gautama's thoughts applied and sustained to the state of mind was the contemplation of impermanance, presumably as here: "Is material shape permanent or impermanent?" "Impermanent, revered sir." "But is what is impermanent painful or is it pleasant?" "Painful, revered sir." "And is it right to regard that which is impermanent, suffering, liable to change as 'This is mine, this am I, this is my self'?" No, revered sir. What do you think about this...? Is feeling... perception... are the habitual tendencies... is consciousness permanent or impermanent?... (etc., etc.) (MN III 19-20, Pali Text Society MN vol III p 69) The second of the thoughts Gautama applied and sustained with regard to state of mind was the contemplation of dispassion with regard to the pleasant, the painful, and the neutral of feeling. I think both the contemplation of impermanence and the contemplation of dispassion are necessary, in one form or another, to be able to let go of "determinate thought" or volition in action. And that's the third thought Gautama applied and sustained as a part of his way of living, the contemplation of cessation (the cessation of "determinate thought" or volition in action).