HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!!!

May you, your family, all your friends, and every being of every religion, race, color, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, and species in this magnificently diverse world have the Happiest Holidays and Most Peaceful New Year Ever!!!

Peace and love, Charlie

Present Moment Oneness - A Glimpse of Enlighenment

The following, sent by a meditating dharma friend, is a poetic description/explanation/articulation of a selfless/egoless/formless/timeless glimpse of enlightenment/nonduality/emptiness/void/oneness, which he recently experienced. As Susuki said, there are no enlightened beings, only enlightened moments.

Another moment, another moment. A moment of clarity gave rise to an understanding. An understanding within the present moment, which is now gone. This is the explanation of that understanding as it is understood now.

The Oneness (whatever it may be that the mind/body and all formations inhabit) is only a matter of density. The completeness was realized/felt/understood while performing a common, daily task.

It was so obvious; there is no empty space, only dissimilar density. The space inside an “empty” glass is only perceived as empty. It is also perceived as different from the glass, separate from the glass; it is not. In the language of physics, on the atomic level (subatomic, descending ad infinitum) this perception is not true. This may be an intellectual path of reasoning, but it exposed a higher awareness. The space inhabiting the space in the glass is also the glass, the hand holding the glass, the house in which the person is standing, the earth on which house stands, The Earth, the universe, the One.

This deeper understanding of interconnectedness, and invariably, causality (affecting a part of the whole can only lead to affecting the whole itself) came from the rational of dissimilar density, as opposed to an independent form ending and another beginning (subject/object mentality). This deluded separation mentality applies even to the false sense of “empty space,” or in other words, the believing/thinking/feeling that nothing exists between objects of perception. Once this understanding of wholeness/oneness is felt, it transcends form also. One understands not only the absence of space dividing form, but the absence of form dividing form.

An all encompassing notion of oneness was then felt; knowing, not a sense of connection, but something greater, a knowing of a non-connection. Where as connection implies being intrinsically separate but attached in some way, this became Oneness. Once the understanding of no space dividing form and no form dividing form was realized, then even the impermanence of reality was meaningless, because the experience of an understanding of One negates the separate mentality of self, if even only for a moment. For a brief moment the task at hand was all there was, and at the same time a piece of the great whole, meaningful to the present and part of the timeless. Every action was caused by the universal flow of the previous, and the same action effecting the continuous, eternal flowing.

In these moments when duality/non-duality is lost, when something is just present as whole/one, it all becomes simple, but of course, it doesn’t last. Todd Brown

Meditation Retreat Saturday Jan. 16 in Des Moines

Meditation Friends: I'll be teaching another meditation retreat from 8:30 to 4:30, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, at the Friends Meeting House on the NW corner of 42nd and Grand Ave. in Des Moines, IA.. The information is below.

Please register only if you can participate for the full day, so that all retreatants might experience the benefit that comes from sharing sustained meditation practice with a group of persons that stays together the whole day. New and experienced meditators are welcome. Please post and share this announcement with others who may be interested.

To register, email charlesday1@mchsi.com or call (515) 255-8398 and leave your (1) name, (2) phone number, and (3) email address. Email or call me if you would like additional information. Peace, Charlie

MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS RETREAT
www.DesMoinesMeditation.org

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Where: 4211 Grand Ave., Des Moines - Friends Meeting House on the NW
corner of 42nd and Grand. Park in lot off 42nd or on Ingersoll Ave.

Teachers: Charlie Day is a retired psychologist who has studied meditation and
Buddhism for over 40 years in the US, India, and Thailand. He teaches
meditation as a psychological and spiritual growth method and Buddhism as a way of living and philosophy compatible with all religions. Charlie teaches classes, sitting groups, retreats and guides individuals in their practice. Paul Lambakis, a social worker in private practice, will lead a lovingkindness mediation and give instructions for sitting on cushions.

Retreat: Sponsored by the Des Moines Meditation & Mindfulness Group, this
retreat is open to new and experienced meditators. It includes
instructions for sitting, walking, lovingkindness, and eating meditations,
handouts, and a talk. Lunch is provided. Bring a cushion, mat, or
meditation bench if you have them. Chairs and a few floor cushions are
available. Wear comfortable clothes. Please do not wear scented
lotions or perfumes because some persons may be allergic to them.

Donation: Teachers express their generosity by leading retreats at no cost Instead, they gratefully accept donations or Dana, the Pali word for generosity. Dana is a voluntary way of expression your generosity to the teacher and supporting the continuation of the teachings.

Register: Leave your name, phone #, and email at charlesday1@mchsi.com or
515-255-8398. Register only if you can attend the entire day,
Call or email for more information. Feel free to share and post this flier.

Check out our website www.DesMoinesMeditation.org

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!

Living a Beautiful Ordinary Life

by Shoken Winekoff
Abbot, Ryumongi Zen Monastery, Decorah, IA

“Wabi Sabi” touches something at the core of human living. It is an interesting Japanese phrase that is a bit hard to explain, but you can feel it when you see it. There’s a children’s book called Wabi Sabi, written by Mark Reibstein. I’ve used it a couple of times in Dharma talks. I’ll tell you the story and maybe add to it as well.

Wabi Sabi is the name of a cat that lives in Japan. She is an ordinary little cat that sets out to find the meaning of her name. She asks her master, who simply tells her that her name is hard to explain.

So Wabi Sabi asks her friend, a big white fluffy cat, who tells her “Wabi Sabi” is a kind of beauty like an old straw mat, rough on cat’s paws. It pricks and tickles … hurts and feels good, too. Old tatami mats can have their own special kind of beauty. This made Wabi Sabi feel pretty good. So she purred and purred … as she laid on the old tatami mat.

Wanting to find out more, Wabi Sabi asked her dog who also lived in the house with her if he knew the meaning of her name. He was a kind of snippy little dog and just said, “Oh, Wabi Sabi, you are just so ordinary. Like a brown leaf, so ordinary!” This sort of hurt Wabi Sabi. She didn’t like feeling so ordinary.

Wabi Sabi was having a hard time understanding. How could her name mean beautiful and ordinary at the same time? Then a little bird told Wabi Sabi that there was a wise old monkey who lived in the forest who could tell her the meaning of her name. So, Wabi Sabi went to the forest and met the wise old monkey.

The wise old monkey served her a bowl of tea. The bowl of tea was warm in her paws and very comforting. It was an old clay bowl and the steam was gently rising in the morning sun. It was something Wabi Sabi could feel without the wise old monkey saying anything. Still Wabi Sabi asked the wise old monkey if he could explain her name.

The monkey simply served her the tea and told her an old haiku poem, “The pale moon resting on foggy water. Hear that splash? A frog’s jumped in.” Hmm! Wabi Sabi scratched her head, but couldn’t understand.

Finally she met an old monk named Shoken who also lived deep in the mountain. Wabi Sabi asked the old monk Shoken if he could explain the haiku poem. Shoken just asked Wabi Sabi, “What is the pale moon?” Wabi Sabi said, “A pale moon is really the sun reflecting the light of the entire universe.” Wabi Sabi was a very smart cat.

Then Shoken asked Wabi Sabi, “What is the foggy water that the entire universe is resting on?” Wabi Sabi thought for a moment and said, “The foggy water is
our day-to-day living.” Then the old monk Shoken asked Wabi Sabi, “What is a frog jumped in?” Wabi Sabi simply said, “Nothing to be said, the frog just jumped in!”

We’re always looking for explanations. Alive and dying too is like this, like the damp autumn leaves curled beneath your feet… just coming, just going. It just is! The truth to live is just to live.

I asked my granddaughter if she understood. She said, “I understand, Papa Shoken!” And fell asleep against my arm. Papa Shoken also went to sleep that night thinking how Wabi Sabi human life is. Just ordinary and yet so beautiful, if you can just live it!

This article is reprinted from the Ryumonj Zen Monastery “Dragon Gate,” Fall 2009 Newsletter, which can be accessed by clicking here.

December Named National Awareness (Mindfulness) Month

The following article appeared in the online satirical newspaper, "The Onion" - November 17, 2009 Issue. In reading it, I suggest substituting the word "mindfulness" for "awareness" and for the phrase "paying attention to things."

December Named National Awareness Month

WASHINGTON—In an effort to combat what organizers are calling "our current epidemic of complete and utter obliviousness," the American Foundation for Paying Attention to Things has declared December "National Awareness Month."

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Despite organizers' best intentions, many passersby who aren't already off in space will confuse this poster with an ad for an upcoming movie.

"All across the country, millions of men and women are dangerously unaware," AFPAT spokesperson Karen Teeling said during a press conference Monday. "What's worse, the vast majority of those suffering from this debilitating state of mind don't even know it."

"That's why this December we're asking that all Americans stop whatever it is they're doing, and take a moment to open their eyes for once—just once—in their lives," Teeling added. "It'll make all the difference in the world."

According to AFPAT, planned events for National Awareness Month include a 10K charity walk, during which participants will be forced to actually interact and engage with the outside world for a change, as well as several advertising campaigns, which will help get the word out about things other than what currently happens to be playing on television.

Awareness-month organizers will also hand out large reflective ribbons, in hopes that, by wearing a 9-inch yellow reminder on their chests, citizens across the country might actually remember that something is going on.

"Obliviousness doesn't discriminate," said volunteer Robert Fargo, who added that his own father might still be alive today had he been more aware of his surroundings. "Adults, children, the elderly, those staring slack-jawed as their very existence rushes by—obliviousness can strike them all."

Defined as the ability to realize what one is doing, to whom one is doing it, and what the consequences of doing it or not doing it may be, awareness is considered to be a major factor in a number of modern human endeavors, among them: decision-making, prioritizing, and just basically walking around without always bumping into things.

While lack of awareness—or "unawareness," as the foundation calls it—has reached dangerously high levels across the nation, organizers said there are still steps that can be taken by everyone to address the issue.

"A simple self-exam once a month can greatly reduce the chances of becoming unaware," AFPAT founder Michael Poe said. "First, position yourself in front of your bathroom mirror. Second, make eye contact with the reflection in the mirror. Now, while still maintaining eye contact, take three to five minutes to think about the fact that you exist as a human being."

Added Poe, "As long as you can remember to do that and not just completely tune out for an entire year or so, you should be all right."

In addition to distributing literature about raising awareness of awareness itself, and launching a series of bus ads featuring such slogans as "Hey, you! Come on, snap out of it," organizers listed a number of symptoms Americans can look for when attempting to deduce whether or not they're aware.

"Lack of coherent thought is usually a sign of being unaware, as is a fleeting attention span, and forgetting what this particular sentence pertains to midway through reading it," said Dr. Howard Sturges, who has treated several hundred cases of acute obliviousness. "If you suspect you have such a disorder, please contact a health professional immediately, or, as you likely know him, the man in the white lab coat with the shiny thing around his neck who has that office with all the chairs and patients inside of it."

Though they remain confident about the success of the upcoming monthlong event, members of the American Foundation for Paying Attention to Things maintained that the cure for the national unawareness epidemic ultimately lies with the individual.

"We'll do what we can to help, but at some point it's really up to all Americans to make sure they can leave the house in the morning without setting the place on fire, show up to work without looking like a complete moron, or carry on an intelligent conversation without getting distracted by different tile patterns on the floor," AFPAT chairwoman Sheila Winters said. "Hello? Hello?