Tag Archives: Robert Aitken

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non harming

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In the dimension of primary meaning all sounds are the sounds of the Buddha and all talk illuminates his teaching.  This is the vast and fathomless Dharmakaya.  It inspires us at each moment but nobody lives there, just as nobody lives exclusively in the worlds of harmony or individuality.

from The Practice of Perfection by Roshi Robert Aitken

At the end of most retreats, participants are offered an opportunity to commit to the path taught by the Buddha in a ceremony called “taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.”   Along with the Three Refuges they also commit to the Five Precepts of not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, not lying and not consuming intoxicants.

Thich Nhat Hanh offers the Five Precepts as Five Mindfulness Trainings and the phrasing is instructive.  Each Mindfulness Training begins with an acknowledgment that I am aware there is suffering, that the suffering has a cause, and that I am willing to take action to diminish the suffering by transforming its cause.  The First Mindfulness Training is reprinted below from the Plum Village site (these are the revised version which has caused a bit of stir):

Reverence For Life

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

There’s usually some objection, if not a full out panic, around the First and Fifth Precepts.  The push-back to the First Precept is often in the resistance to not eating meat, killing mosquitoes and harming others physically.  The Fifth Precept which addresses the use of alcohol gets its fair share of concerned protest related to the complications of socializing with friends and family.  I try to take the view that expressing these concerns strengthens our practice because we are aspiring to be fully engaged in the reality of our lives.

In a light-hearted way, non-harming or ahimsa is a constant practice living in a farmhouse shared over the years with a number of dogs, cats, and mice.  Not to mention the insects: mosquitoes, house flies, the vicious infestations of Asian Lady Beetles and earwigs!  And of course, all beings come with droppings.  I can handle the various poops of the larger beasts but mice and the health consequences of their droppings challenge my aspiration to achieve ahimsa.  For all our discussions, we have yet to agree on trapping them mostly because live traps make no sense in our situation.  Given the mice come in from the great outdoors, all we’d be doing is creating a shuttle bus route so they can go home to invite back their friends from far and wide.  “Look, guys, it’s no big deal.  Every couple of days, this little space capsule transports you back home for a visit!  How cool is that!”

There are various ahimsic solutions: stuffing cupboards with sheets of fabric softener, strong herbs, even (though I refuse to try this) clumps of cat pee-soaked kitty litter.  (Apparently the smell of cat pee tells the mice there are large predators in the house.  Right.  Blind mice could see the size of my cats!)  My solution, limited by time and energy, is to dive into the pantry and shelves, armed with bleach, soap and a strong scrubbing brush.  Until I figure out how to line the pantry and cupboards with sheets of tin so the little critters can stay out, it will have to do.  The reward is an opportunity to be happily fanatic about organizing my pots and pans (by size) and the tin and dry goods (by category though not alphabetically – yet).  And it keeps me away from the Devil Drink!

Who knew keeping the precepts could be so much fun!











Thank you for practicing,

Genju

PS:  There is a deeper issue around the First Precept of Ahimsa and Right Livelihood which I hope to dig into in another post.

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endurance

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There’s a wall the springs up about halfway through anything I try to do.  I used to think there was no warning; as I learned to listen closely to my body, I began to detect the early sounds of the bricks thumping into place.  It doesn’t stop me from running smack into it but it has taught me to slow the pace so I don’t embed myself deep in the stonework on contact.

In the last few years, this wall has been building.  I could see its beginnings from the distance.  Every moment I spent in chaotic frenzy trying to fix things or get things done, added a brick or two.  Every excuse that took me away from practice provided the mortar to seal the cracks.  And here it is now.

Frank was away  – a weekend retreat at Zen Mountain Monastery.  When he calls (you’re calling me in the middle of a retreat???), I chatter on about nothing, my voice blocking any view of the wall behind me.  In another conversation, the pain and exhaustion spill over.  I’m tired of being tired.  I’m tired of not understanding why this wall is sitting here.  He says sagely, There’s no understanding this.  Just accept.  A weekend with Zennies and you sound like a Zen Master, I shoot back.  Only because he’s right.

I tend to bypass that first step, acceptance, in the hopes I can get on with endurance.  It seems more noble to act the character of teeth-gritting effort than to seem to surrender.  Yet I know from every other encounter with suffering that the resistance to its presence delays just getting on with it.  In facing the difficult and the unwanted, there is only one practice:

be with it; it is already here.

Roshi Aitken describes the poet Basho’s response to difficult circumstances on a pilgrimage:

Fleas, lice,
The horse pissing
Near my pillow

Aitken goes on to quote R. Blyth’s commentary of the poem: “We must be cold and hungry, flea-ridden and lonely, companions of sorrow and acquainted with grief….  It is the feeling ‘These things too…'”

Although there’s a danger of becoming an emotional masochist, the intent is to know honestly what it is I’m dealing with.  What is it that is here?  What is it that has taken up residence in the center of my chest, my throat, and deep in my gut?

And then it becomes clear that all which went before is in preparation for this moment.

Thank you for practicing,

Genju