A New Year

Carved wooden Buddha from Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

The spring flowers, the moon in autumn,
The cool breezes of summer, the winter's snow;
If idle concerns do not cloud the mind,
This is man's happiest season.

Case 19 - Ordinary Mind is the Way
Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate)
1229 C.E. 

Bayin Nyi Monastery and Caves

On the road between Hpa-an and Thaton on the western bank of the Thanlwin River in Kayin State, Myanmar is a beautiful monastery and a cave filled with statues of Buddha. To get to the monastery, a monk ferries you across the river in a large wooden boat. [NOTE: The boat is a little leaky and requires some occasional bailing.]

The monastery, marked by several golden pagodas, is built at the base of a 400 foot limestone cliff.

The upper level (where the monks live) offers a beautiful view of the surrounding area.  I visited Bayin Nyi during the rainy season and most of the Thanlwin River valley was flooded.

The cave contains a small limestone pool, a full complement of stalactites and stalagmites, and several dozen gilded, and incredibly refined, life-sized statues of Buddha. There is also a box containing the names of all the pilgrims who have visited and payed homage to the site.  My name is in this box now, too.

Snow Day

Zen Master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, "Master, the nature of the wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?"

"Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent," Baoche replied, "you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere."

"What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?" asked the monk again.  The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply.

Eihei Dogen
Genjo Koan
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye (Shobogenzo)
1233 C.E.

Kyaiktiyo

The Golden Rock pagoda at Kyaiktiyo in Mon State is one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in Myanmar. The gold-leaf encrusted boulder balances precariously on the edge of a cliff at the top of Mt. Kyaikto and looks like it should start rolling off at any moment. It apparently doesn't, however, because of a single, precisely placed, strand of Buddha's hair enshrined in the stupa on top.

Hiking up the mountain to the pagoda, I stopped at a small roadside "pharmacy" to look at the medicinal plants and medical preparations.  My favorite item was the elephant's tooth. [NOTE: I had a full beard in those days].

Rohatsu

Seated Buddha (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Rohatsu - the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month - is a time when Zen Buddhists commemorate Buddha's enlightement.  It starts on December 1st and ends on Rohatsu or Bodhi Day (December 8th).  In the seven days leading up to Rohatsu Day, Zen monks and lay practitioners spend their time in intensive silent meditation.  The Rinzai master, Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) exhorted his monks during Rohatsu to "sit this week with a daring spirit".  Be mindful. Sit hard. For all beings.

Sitting in Threnody

In the early 1970s, abstract painter Cleve Gray created a series of 14 large panels entitled "Threnody" as a lamentation on the Vietnam War.  The work was commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Purchase, New York. In July of 2008, Threnody was re-installed in the Neuberger Museum and three meditation workshops were offered to accompany the exhibit.  Truly a powerful space to sit in. [NOTE: Threnody, from the Greek threnoidia, is a song or hymn of mourning.]

Fall Sesshin

The wooden man starts to sing; the stone woman gets up dancing.
-Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi

I spent the last three days in sesshin at the Garrison Institute. [NOTE: I was doan, so I spent a lot of time with the gongs and the clappers and the inkin].

To drift like clouds, flow like water

Yangon, Myanmar 2003

Jinghong, China 2005

[NOTE: The Japanese term for a novice monk is "unsui", which translates literally as cloud water, i.e. moving freely without the constraints and limitations of attachments.]

Sunday at Shwedagon

One Sunday in early January of 2005, I spent a quiet morning at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.   There is a palpable serenity and magic here, which, I am convinced, is at least partly due to the eight strands of Buddha's hair that are enshrined on the site.  There is also an impressive banyon tree (Ficus religiosa) which is said to have been grown from a branch of the original tree in Bodh Gaya under which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. [NOTE: The monks are "bathing the Buddha" with little cups of water].