The 8 Mundane corrosives

Pleasure - Pain
Gain - Loss
Fame- Obscurity
Praise - Blame

These are twins that are never separated from one another. If you pursue one the other follows. If you use these as a measurement of how to live your life, life is suffering and miserable. I notice that although they look pretty obvious, they are quite subtle and pernicious. Each one has a tendency to destroy our ability to see clearly; each one is full of self-absorption. We chase these mundane concerns only to get ourselves lost.

Pleasure may come in the form of just wanting something to stop or change or be otherwise; the chasing after pleasure and the removal of pain lifts off the experience of right here; we pursue this over and over again. As I consider my life I see how I want certain things to go away; or certain situations, or certain people, or certain sounds, or smells, or time...I prevent the Way from coming forth when I chase after or run away from what is arising. Staying with what comes doesn't mean holding it, it means staying still in the illumination of what occurs...it doesn't mean resignation either. It is easy, it means not leaning one way or the other, simply staying still in what you are doing...I'd like to give an example.

Currently I am in the middle of a disagreement with someone. They think a whole bunch of stuff and I think a whole bunch of stuff; the content is not important. The experience of the difference is. I experience a certain ancient response to the whole bunch of stuff being said which leads me to want to push the experience away, push the person away. Now it doesn't mean that I will stay in the situation with the person as a vow to stick with it no matter what; the teachings do not ask us to harm anyone, including our self...what it is does mean is that I will stay with my experience without running to make it sweet or to make it go away...but to take a look, see what is there without refutation of the other, without discrediting the other, without dishonoring the other or myself...we include everything without dishonoring it...seeing it as clearly as we are able without going into right or wrong thinking, without going into good or bad labeling, without splitting....just seeing the differences in the middle of the sameness...noting our experience, noting that nothing is not included...what does that mean? Everything is included...we just see it there, feel it, smell it, taste it, touch it...just so. It's all just so and when we see that we don't get so riled up...so staked down into a position...we carry on, keep going...it's hard to do because we want to stake a place in the ground and be right about stuff...we want to be a me that knows what is right and to be a good person....rather than be awake, to know the true nature of this situation, the communion and intimacy of sticky, wet, dry, hard, soft, dark, light, when I am able to drop all the stuff of wanting to run or hide or the pull of any of the mundane concerns I see...just see. And then of course we have to say something...we have to respond...and we just never know what that might be or look like...if I think about it again I find myself quickly tangled in the whole bunch of stuff...this is where we need face to face, nose to nose communion with one another and all things...as Ed would say from Dogen's Cook...let the heart abide in things and things abide in the heart. again and again and again.

Giviing and receiving

It is very late for me. This cold holds its own and I am up at night with it tight around my throat. It feels like taking more than giving until I am able to settle my mind and then relax. Where is the gift when there is no giver? No receiver?

Seems

That intimacy might be a part of this....can I really show-up with my full face with every thing...letting my heart really open to what arrives and goes? Loving and kind isn't a pretend thing; it's the real thing.

What is lovingkindness? 

So far....

Here is an overview of the wings of enlightenment from Training the Mind.

The Foundation
Life as a human being is precious
Life is fragile-
Death is sudden
Cause & Effect are inescapable
Suffering in the conditioned world is inescapable
Liberation is beneficial
A teacher might be helpful

The Two Wings of Your Life

Wisdom & Compassion – The Ultimate and the relative awakened heart

Wisdom
· Generosity – Stuff, fearlessness, truth
Regard all dharmas as dreams; regard thoughts as a dream
Examine the nature of unborn awareness; the sound of the bell
Self-liberate the antidote; who is asking?
Rest in the nature of alaya; under the sky

TRANSITION

Be a child of illusion: the conventional illusion

Do you see that everything is buddhanature?
Do you see the 8 mundane concerns corrode the true nature of your life?
Do you see that you decontextualize when you are upset?

System of measurement creates your life; go to the 4 immeasurables
Lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity

Compassion & Lovingkindness
· Discipline – Boat to compassion/ Cultivating Skillful Means
· Practice: 4 retreats a year/zazen, study, service, what
· Skillful Means- non giver, non receiver, non gift

Return to this over and over again. Looking at the foundation, the two wings...seeing your life.

Generosity, the boat to the ocean of freedom

Giving is the boat to vastness; to suchness.
Giving stuff.
Giving fearlessness.
Giving the true nature of reality.
Giving is a practice of wisdom.
It requires a quiet mind.
It requires seeing no you, no me.
It requires letting go of referents.
No giver, no receiver, no gift.
Of course you can reverse this...
Hoarding is the boat to a mudpuddle; to constricted living.
Hoarding stuff.
Hoarding courage.
Hoarding the truth.
Hoarding is a practice of ignorance.
It requires self-centeredness.
It requires remembering everything against everyone.
Just me, me, me.

Look at your own experience

This is the heart of the slogan practice. It is to take each slogan as a little flash of light into your own experience. Where are you? What are ya up to in this moment? With complete honesty shining the light into your own doings and comings and goings....like a little pocket light showing the way...carry it with you. Wisdom and compassion are too big for me; but a little flashlight on how I feed the dogs, how I answer the phone, what happens when I listen to someone, or take a shower, or go for a walk. Honest, sincere reflection...breathing in and out, giving and receiving...