Plymouth Sangha

Dear Friends 
This thursday we will continue exploring the use of Gathas .We will recap the concept of Gathas , so that it will not be necessary to have attended last week .Jonny will facilitate the session this week .If anyone is interested in a 30 min weekday meditation session at 1.30pm during lockdown , please let me know .
Nic Outram Highlighted the link to the Plum Village Gatha on the mindfulness of breathing 
https://link.plumvillage.app/38ve

Finally Nic Holder highlighted a radio 4 program on the Ba’hai faith in the  Something Understood series , originally broadcast 2011.  It is available for 29 days, and entitled “No East and West in our Round World”. 

The Zoom link for thursday is     Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting now— 

With a Smile 
Jonny
“All your thoughts are Garbage ” Adjan Chah

The loose focus ironically was Aimlessness – and two highly recommended very short articles sent by Jeremy are attached

Aimlessness – The Other Shore – Thich Nhat Hanh

Pp97-98 – There’s a tendency to think of nirvana or enlightenment as something to be attained. The word “attainment” in the [Heart] sutra refers to the idea that we can attain nirvana  or enlightenment. But nirvana or enlightenment cannot be grasped by the mind. They can only be experienced by letting go of grasping. As long as we grasp or run after them, we shall never experience them.

Aimlessness (apranihita) is the Third Door of Liberation. Practising aimlessness can help to realise non-attainment. Aimlessness means not running after things, not putting an object in front of you and continually reaching for it. Whether the object is fame, profit, riches or sensual pleasure, or even enlightenment, as long as we are attached to seeking it, we will never experience freedom from ill being.

The teaching of aimlessness is a deep and wonderful teaching. Some people chase enlightenment. But enlightenment is already there inside you, so there is no need to run after it. What you run toward is just the idea of enlightenment. If we cannot stop running, we will miss the miracle of life available inside and around us.

We are always trying to do something or be somebody because we are not satisfied with our self or with things around us. Practising aimlessness you don’t need to run after anything anymore. You may say that you need to do it, because what you’re running toward is good, but running toward what you think is good is still running, and so you will still suffer. Life in the present moment is already wonderful enough. All the wonders of life are available in the present moment. To be awake to these wonders is already enough to bring us freedom, peace and joy.

SECOND ARTICLE

Goalless Practice

To learn how to be truly content here, you have to practice being truly content here.

By Brad Warner

Winter 2012 

The iconoclastic itinerant Soto Zen teacher “Homeless” Kodo Sawaki Roshi famously said, “Zazen is good for nothing!”

He wasn’t being facetious. He wasn’t employing some kind of “skilful means” by saying something he really didn’t believe. He wasn’t being mystical and saying it’s good (wink, wink) for nothing (nudge, nudge). Nope. He meant it. Zazen really is good for nothing. It’s useless. Absolutely useless.

One of the hardest aspects of Zen practice is getting your head around the idea that zazen has no goal. No goal at all. You don’t do it for anything except itself. It doesn’t get you anywhere. It doesn’t gain you a damned thing.

Part of the reason this goalless practice is hard to accept is that anyone who has ever done zazen or indeed any kind of meditation practice knows quite well that there are benefits. Some people can’t function without their morning coffee. I can’t function without my morning zazen. It makes me feel better, lighter, happier, more alive. If there were no benefits, why would anyone do such a ridiculous thing as sit and stare at a wall for half an hour or more every morning and night? Who has that kind of time to waste? There are plenty of folks working hard to determine and explain exactly what these benefits are and why they come about. There are a dozen books out right now that will tell you exactly what meditation is good for. And it ain’t nothing!

The weird thing is that the only way one really gets any of the most important benefits of meditation practice is by giving up on the notion that there are any benefits to meditation practice.

People often get hung up on semantics. Isn’t the goal of having no goal just another goal? You can twist your mind around this one forever. Logically, it’s a perfect loop. You can define having no goal as a goal and nobody can argue with that on a linguistic level. But in actual practice not having a goal really isn’t a goal at all. It’s something different from having a goal. It’s not having a goal.

Even so, this is much easier said than done. We’ve been taught since birth that the worst thing any activity can be is pointless. Understandably, we always want to know if something difficult we’re considering committing to is going to produce results. I think some of us look upon meditation the way we look at dieting. We want to choose a diet that has been proven to be effective. Otherwise we’d be starving ourselves for nothing. When it comes to meditation, we certainly don’t want to spend hours and hours sitting in some weird posture only to find we have nothing to show for it afterward.

We are deeply committed to the idea that for something to be worth doing, it needs to produce results. More than that, it needs to produce the results we desire. The diet that made me deny myself all those delicious desserts had better help me shed 20 pounds! And that meditation for which I had to give up all the time I could have spent playing video games or hanging out with friends had better fix what’s wrong in my life and bring me profound peace and contentment!

The problem is that goal-seeking activity is always the enemy of real peace and contentment. The idea that what is here and now is less valuable than what’s over there just past the finish line prevents us from ever being truly content and happy right where we are. No matter what your ultimate goal is, it’s always off in the distance. It’s never here. This goes for any goal at all, even the goal of attaining ultimate inner peace or saving all beings. It’s still a goal. It’s still over there, not here.

Part of striving for a goal is telling yourself that you’re not good enough, that you’ve got to push harder. If you tell yourself you’re not good enough over and over and over, what sort of effect is that going to have? How is that ever going to produce any kind of peace and contentment, even if your goal is peace and contentment? If you do accidentally achieve a little peace and contentment, you’ve set up a habit of telling yourself that you’re not peaceful and content enough.

In order to learn to be truly content here, you have to practice being truly content here. And that means giving up any notion that there’s something better just around the next bend. Even if what’s around the bend really is better.

It’s perfectly fine to just let your goals be as they are. I have personally found this to be a very useful approach. There’s no sense in beating yourself up over having a goal for your practice. That’s just another way of telling yourself you’re not good enough as you are. So have your goals. Have all the goals you want! Just leave them be and don’t take them too seriously. Like all other thoughts, they’ll drop away of their own accord if you stop feeding them.

In a very real sense, when you start getting into that endless thought loop of trying to have a goal, but trying not to have a goal, but trying not to not to have a goal, while trying not to not to not to have a goal and on and on and on, you’re just playing a mind game with yourself. So treat yourself the way you would treat that annoying neighbour who tries to draw you into an argument that no one could ever possibly win. Refuse to be drawn in. Don’t respond. Just like you’d do with that annoying neighbour, let your inner voice talk and talk and talk until it’s so hoarse it has to shut up. Meanwhile, just keep doing your practice.

After doing this for a while you’ll see that your goal-driven thoughts have less and less power. They may still crop up. But you’ll find that you just don’t care about them anymore.

And if that doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. Just keep on sitting anyway. After all, who couldn’t use a few moments of pointless peace and quiet each day? Even if those moments are good for nothing!

Brad Warner is a Zen monk, writer, bass player, and filmmaker. He is the author of four books, most recently Sex, Sin, and Zen. His blog is located at hardcorezen.info .

Barbara facilitated a session introducing working with Gathas . A letter introducing this practice is attached again , and an example of a Gatha is shown below .( It just had to be tea) 
Also attached is a rather wonderful article sent by Jeremy regarding Aimlessness , which was discussed on Sunday at “Clearbrook” Zoom.
The Zoom link for thursday is     Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting now

A reminder of our website address for resources relating to each meeting 
https://home.outram.org

Drinking Tea
The cup of Tea in ny two Hands Mindfulness held perfectly My mind and body dwell in the very here and now 
TNH
Hope to catch up with some of you this evening 
With a Smile 
Jonny

We will meet again this thursday continuing to explore  the question “What is Zen?”
Our meditation will aim to start at 7.30 , therefore arriving a few minutes early is helpful to allow time to Settle the mind .In addition we may receive some input from a Chan ( Chinese Zen )  perspective, from Jeremy and Jeanine who practice in the Western Chan style . Jonny will be facilitating the session .

Barbara facilitated the session and the focus took forward some of the ideas in the 5th Mindfulness Training ,in particular, the concepts of Volition and Consciousness as Nutriments .

To deepen your practise of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings See ” The Mindfulness Survival Kit” by TNH for a commentary on the trainings and pages 105 – 114 for his explanation of the 4 Nutriments.

This Sunday our session focussed on finding practice which nourishes us .

The program is attached below and a link to the Qi Gong on You Tube is also attached .

This weeks session will be facilitated by Barbara , and she will address the question above “What is Zen ? “

Suggested reading:

Zen Keys by Thich Nhat Hanh ( A guide to Zen Practice and Teachings)

Zen Battles by Thich Nhat Hanh ( teachings by 9th Century Zen Master Linji with commentary by TNH)

Plum Village Chanting Book ( The practice book used in Plum Village, it contains, gathas, sutras, daily practices and ceremonies and much else besides)

Our session this week focuses loosely on Inclusiveness with special reference to Racial Inclusiveness

The Contemplations on the paradigm of the Five Mindfulness Trainings for Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic are included below

A New Paradigm For Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic

By Marisela Gomez and Valerie Brown

Let us open to a new and deeper way of understanding the Five Mindfulness Trainings, guiding principles for mindful and ethical living, which call us toward individual and collective awakening, compassion, and peace.  We are aware that we are interconnected.  What happens in Wuhan, China affects people in New York City. What happens to the Black body affects all bodies.  We are called forward.

The global pandemic is a gateway to suffering worldwide, disproportionately impacting Black people, indigenous, and people of color, who face poverty, sickness, displacement, and death.  They, we are not alone. Our lives and livelihood are interconnected. We are called forward.

We cannot exist independent of low wage workers, health care workers, un-housed people, single mothers, undocumented people, the unemployed and underemployed.  If one such person lives on the knife edge of racial, ethnic, social, structural, and systemic oppression and discrimination we are all affected.  We are called forward.

The practitioner dwells in the now, recognizing equanimity and instability, discrimination and non-discrimination, ill-being and well-being, practicing right view and engaged through compassionate action.  Aware of the cycle of racial, ethnic, and social inequities and discrimination, we courageously turn to practice wholeheartedly.    We are called forward.

Lighting a stick of incense, listening to the sutras, sitting upright and solid, palms joined, the practitioner looks within and in concentration the path and fruit of skillful action is revealed.  We are called forward.

Speak aloud these words with the sangha voice, a true river of understanding:

Acknowledging Beauty as Reverence for Life

Aware of the suffering caused by oppression and  generational harm based on racial,  cultural, social, and ethnic  inferiority and superiority and its resultant structures of injustices and harm, I acknowledge the beauty and violence inherent in life. I vow to resist being complicit in systems and structures that continue to perpetuate violence and hatred instead of reverence of life for marginalized groups. I recognize that  each person contributes to my individual and our collective awakening, and the co-creation of a world that celebrates  and affirms differences and similarities. All living beings can teach me something,  when I remember to pause, breathe, listen deeply  with a calm and open mind and heart, and ask myself: ‘is there more’ or  ‘ what else is here with me’’?’ I  honor  and respect  all life guided  by Right View and Right Energy.

Belonging and Connecting as True Happiness

Aware of the suffering caused by ignorance and aversion of my own and other’s racial, ethnic, cultural, and social history, its legacy and how this affects me whether I am aware of it or not, I am committed to connecting to these histories. I know that turning toward these histories with an open heart is my journey of awakening to true belonging. I will take the time to learn the history of the racial and ethnic group with which I identify as well as for other socially constructed racial and ethnic groups. Aware that there is no genetic or biological difference between different racial and ethnic groups, and that these identities were constructed by one group to establish dominance over others, I will turn toward racial and other forms of othering with an open heart and compassionate action. I know that this history has led to fragmentation inside and outside body and mind and brought much suffering to all beings. I vow to transform this suffering through the practice of connecting with an open heart. I will notice when emotions of belonging and othering arise and I will ask myself ‘why’? Whatever feelings, perceptions, or mental formations arise, I will embrace and when needed engage with love in action. I am committed to practicing Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood so I can help relieve this legacy of racial and social suffering.  I will practice looking deeply to see that true happiness is not possible without true connecting leading to belonging and understanding. 

Cherishment as True Love

Aware of the suffering caused by discrimination and oppression, I vow to understand its roots within my consciousness and my body and the collective body of the sangha and larger society.  I vow to recognize the ways in which I have benefitted or not-benefitted explicitly or implicitly from systems and structures that foster discrimination and injustice.  I am aware of the legacy of violence, especially unlawful police violence, perpetrated against Black people, indigenous people, people of color, differently abled people, people of various gender identities and expressions and sexual orientation, and others who are marginalized. I acknowledge the lived experience of all people to deepen my capacity for understanding and for greater compassionate action.  I am aware that narrowly constructed, prevalent interpretations of intimate relationships constrain how we cherish each other in our expression of love, leaving many further isolated and alienated. I am committed to looking tenderly at my suffering, knowing that I am not separate from others and that the seeds of suffering contain the seeds of joy.  I am not afraid of bold love that fosters justice and belonging and tender love that seeks peace and connection.  I cherish myself and my suffering without discrimination.  I cherish this body and mind as an act of healing for myself and for others.  I cherish this breath.  I cherish this moment.  I cherish the liberation of all beings guided by the wisdom and solidity of the sangha. This is my path of true love.  

Vulnerability as Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Aware that vulnerability is the essence of our true nature, our humanness, I vow to risk listening and speaking non-judgmentally with understanding and compassion to alleviate suffering and support peace in myself and others.  I vow to live with empathy, compassion, and awareness and to listen for understanding rather than disagreement. When I’ve hurt others through my unskillful action or speech, I vow to practice making a good apology that acknowledges what I have done and offers sincere regret, knowing that this supports the other person and me. I am committed to speaking that aligns with my highest aspiration and encourages honesty and truthfulness.  I am committed to generous and courageous listening that bridges differences and supports understanding of others who may be different from me.  I am committed to taking meaningful steps to become a true instrument of peace and to help others to be the same. When I am not able to understand the experiences of others, I vow to come back to my breath and my body, and to offer myself gentle patience while learning to support myself in developing greater awareness and skill.  I vow to practice awareness of my beliefs, perceptions, and feelings, aversions, and desires and to take refuge in mindful breathing and in the sangha to support greater stability, peace, and understanding.  Through my practices of vulnerability, patience, forgiveness, and deeply listening, I know that my speech will be guided by love and understanding. Practicing in this way supports Right Speech and Right Action and guides me to Right Insight. 

Welcoming as True Nourishing and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by the consumption of an inadequate history of racial and ethnic forms of social segregation, I am committed to healing myself and the world by welcoming, and practicing with this awareness. I will notice how my thoughts, perceptions, feelings, words, and actions may have been influenced by this inaccurate history. I will look deeply to understand how both physical and mental health, for myself, my family, and my society have been influenced by embracing and denying this racial, social, and ethnic history of inferiority and superiority and its legacy of inequities and injustices. I will cultivate joy to support me toward individual and collective wholeness. I will practice mindfulness of the Four Kinds of Nutriments to become aware of how edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness are all influenced by this history. Practicing with Right Energy and Right Resolve, my Right Action of consumption will include awareness of certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations and how they continue to foster wrong perceptions of racial, ethnic, and social injustices. My understanding of interbeing supports my conscious consumption that sustains a healthy understanding of differences, one that does not oppress or discriminate. This Right Insight will preserve peace, joy, and bring healing in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth. To assure that my descendants do not live in a racially, ethnically, and socially unjust world, I commit to diligently practicing with true welcoming on this path to nourish and heal myself, the sangha, and society.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings keeps us centered in life’s storms and joys and reminds us that life is a precious gift. The Trainings are a path to liberation and transformation.  Practicing these Trainings supports us toward racial and ethnic reconciliation and social change and heals deep suffering. The Five Mindfulness Trainings  helps us cross this shore of suffering and brings us to the side of true awakening and love

We are called forward.

Poem

Our True Heritage –

Thich Nhat Hanh

Our True Heritage

The cosmos is filled with precious gems.
I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.
Each moment you are alive is a gem,
shining through and containing earth and sky,
water and clouds.

It needs you to breathe gently
for the miracles to be displayed.
Suddenly you hear the birds singing,
the pines chanting,
see the flowers blooming,
the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the smile and the marvelous look
of your beloved.

You, the richest person on Earth,
who have been going around begging for a living,
stop being the destitute child.
Come back and claim your heritage.
We should enjoy our happiness
and offer it to everyone.
Cherish this very moment.
Let go of the stream of distress
and embrace life fully in your arms.

Our session this week will start as usual at 7.30 pm and will include a Sutra reading. The link is copied below. Sadly, I am unable to join you this week, but hope to catch up with some of you next week.

Hannah has provided this week’s poem, which I am sure will resonate with many of you, as it did with me.

Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. 
Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life, and wait there patiently.
Until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. 
Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.

“Clearing”, by Martha Postlewaite

The Zoom link for Thursday is:  Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting now