Mark Foote

ours is much simpler evolution much faster medicinal plants (fascinating link, Taomeow!)

create something new I cannot find the old ways nothing left to hold

your perspective bright shiney button in the sun old crow goes cockeyed

wellspring never dry say the cat's eyes, as he sits purring in the sun (our cat is losing weight and likely dying of kidney failure)

limbs stab into sky stark breath, empty skin, old bones medicine rattle

the sounds of nature a gurgling belly, a sigh a fly buzzing by

smoke two more at night leave the ashes in the can get ready to go

Left, right, up, down... duck!!! quick, quick- you mean, duck as verb? raised Mad, lowered dead

twisted, charred ashes the fire sings like a banshee hot smoke and cold chills

gift of all you have the wheel is broken in two one thing is certain

I'm getting hungry I could use a bite to eat wasabi noodles

spaces in between the drop of a hat, silence wake up, look who's here!

not sure I could say how I came to be just here a stroke of fortune

it fits her perfect the sun refracted by glass glowing from her skin

hollow, emptiness my old friend, nothing to say laughed until I cried

cloud unveils sunlight and the vastness of the sky still at home, reading

Checking the quote CowTao posted I find the following: I'd like to put forward a slightly different way of seeing this. I think what I have to say has to do with enlightenment, but so do all the things people have mentioned on this thread. I wrote a description of zazen, and I'm going to quote it here because I can't think of a way to say it any better, and this is my starting point: "Simply by being where we are, we can come to forget the self. The sense of place engenders an ability to feel, and each thing we feel enters into the sense of place- even before we know it." Two things I'd like to point out about that description; the first is that the sense of place is associated with the occurrence of consciousness, and the second is that the sense of place engenders an ability to feel because our sense of location in space (our sense of place) is intimately connected with our sense of balance, and our sense of balance creates activity and alignment that generates an ability to feel. Which came first, Gautama the Buddha's experience of being with each thing, even before he knew it, or what he taught as the four truths about suffering? Like all of you, I'm sure, I would say neither; somehow they are part and parcel of the same experience and for me, descriptions like "beyond discriminative thought" and "no thought" go too far. We are talking about an absorption. Consciousness takes place with contact between a sense organ and a sense object, the impact of the place of consciousness on fascial stretch produces activity that generates an ability to feel, and the spontaneous ability to feel allows the free occurrence of consciousness. This is an everyday occurrence for everyone. The enlightenment part is the witness of how aversion, attraction, or ignorance of what is felt conditions the occurrence of consciousness; this witness is spontaneous, and frees the occurrence of consciousness. This is also an everyday occurrence for everyone. The practice as I understand it consists of relaxation and calm in the experience of a sense of place, and in the experience of the impact and feeling associated with that sense of place. A witness of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and a way leading to the cessation of suffering becomes part of the practice, which is of course just ordinary life, as each thing we feel enters into the sense of place. Maybe my favorite quote from Yuanwu (12th century China) is: "When you arrive at last at towering up like a wall miles high, you will finally know that there aren't so many things." (Zen Letters, Teachings of Yuanwu; trans. by Cleary & Cleary, page 83, copyright 1994 by J. C. Cleary and Thomas Cleary)

Lost my paper train of thought down the Tao Bums sink... oh well! Maybe the tan-t'ien is the place where the sense of pitch, yaw, and roll associated with consciousness gets its bearing; seems like my mind ends up in the tan-t'ien more when I look to set up mindfulness of my dynamic in three dimensions.

I like that first description, Non- like Chen Man-Ch'ing in "Thirteen Chapters" (the Wile translation, page 17): "with this method of circulating the ch'i, it overflows into the sinews, reaches the bone marrow, fills the diaphragm, and manifests in the skin and hair." Chen says that the way to get the ch'i to sink to the tan-t'ien is to relax the entire body, then relax the chest. Myself, I focus on reciprocal innervation, the way the activity generated by fascial stretch tends to balance from side to side and shift around in the body. If I relax, I can recognize the effect of aversion and attachment on the occurrence of consciousness, and let the sense of location effect activity. I agree that there is a relaxation associated with the chest, though I experience it as a necessity to engage support from the pelvis vertically up the spine on inhalation, and from pelvis horizontally on exhalation, just in order to realize the particular movement of breath as it takes place. I play with that every sitting, just about, and with the reciprocation between the extensors and the psoas. Here's what I keep in mind, helps me to throw things away and relax: "Simply by being where we are, we can come to forget the self. The sense of place engenders an ability to feel, and each thing we feel enters into the sense of place- even before we know it." Like Foyan said, two sicknesses, looking for a mule while riding a mule, and riding a mule unable to get off. Better not to get on the mule, he said; mind with the tan-t'ien (as Chen Man-ch'ing recommended for health), if the mind is with the tan-t'ien- otherwise, mind where the mind is. I'm pretty good on paper!

the end, the Keystroke power supply hum, silent snores and freesia scent

to break the surface one more feeling- to lie still, nothing much is said (talkin' out of my head again!- nice to hear from CowTao, Taomeow, mYTHmAKER, strawdog65, like old friends- thank you, Sean! )

One part of the whole moves like every other- (ah!) from the place of all

Hi, Kate, hope folks don't mind if we stroll sideways along the thread; upside down, perhaps! I too feel like these mornings as winter finally becomes spring are especially challenging, there's a nice word for it. Mostly I am looking for a freedom of awareness before I fall asleep, yet I also find I can't really shake off sleep without a freedom of awareness. I have to let go, but it's not a letting go I can do, I'm sure you know what I mean- when it's challenging, it's challenging! Returning right-side up for a moment, the utility of the tan-t'ien is in the sense of pitch, yaw, and roll wherever consciousness takes place; that is rooted in the tan-t'ien I think, even if the mind is not with the tan-t'ien, as Chen Man-ch'ing prescribed it should be for the most benefit. This morning I finally recalled the ability to feel, an ability moving like a path under the feet of my consciousness, and it was good.

My take is that the tan-t'ien is the point around which the psoas reciprocates with the extensors. There are ligaments associated with the rectus, oblique, and transverse abdominals that meet equally behind the surface of the lower abdomen; opposite this meeting point, the sacrum is moving forward and back, side to side, and on the tilt along the lines of the sacro-tuberous ligaments left and right. The activity generated by the stretches of the sacrospinous in the hamstrings and quads stretches the ilio-tibial, and generates activity in the sartorious muscles to turn the pelvis left and right. Free movement of the sacrum facilitated by the engagement of the ilio-lumbar ligaments in inhalation and exhalation causes activity in the legs that returns in this way to the extensors, up the back of the spine in three sections to the temporal bones and the parietals, where the nerves control the rhythm of the fluid that causes the sacrum to move. The stretch that generates action in the extensors causes reciprocal stretch and action in the psoas muscles, and the place around which this activity turns is the tan-t'ien. Kate, did you see my write, "waking up and falling asleep"? For me, waking up and falling asleep seem to be about the same thing. I agree with Effilang, "You don't need to do anything special. Just be aware of the Tao, be aware of the interconnectivity of everything and everyone and the Qi will build on it's own." I finally got some words I like about that, like ants on a page, they arranged themselves for my eyes: "Dogen said: "To study the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self." Simply by being where we are, we can come to forget the self. The sense of place engenders an ability to feel, and each thing we feel enters into the sense of place- even before we know it. This being where we are with each thing, even before we know it, is shikantaza." Hope you like that.

Let it go, as well last year's compost, this year's soil a bright red tulip