UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Buddha Nature Not what we think, but — We fall into confusion. Back to the cushion! We left off last time with a discussion of the relative reality of human, versus corporate, entities — which may seem a bit far removed from the concerns of Zen practice. But, as Matsuoka Roshi would often say, “Civilization conquers us!” One of the ways that so-called civilization interferes with our lives on a da...

Human Nature It’s not what we think. We must kill to stay alive — How “humane” is that? One of the many modern cultural memes that Zen challenges — as well as any unbiased reading of history would, for that matter — is the hopeful notion that human nature is necessarily a good thing. We often use the term “humane” with this connotation, as defined by the dictionary: •  having or showing&...

Your zazen may lead To a kind of gravitas — But it’s only Zen. * * * “Gravity,” the John Mayer song that won a Grammy in 2005, begins with the lines: Gravity is working against me And gravity wants to bring me down Truer words, as we say. One of the four fundamental forces, as defined by Google: There are four fundamental forces at work in the universe: the strong force, the weak force, the e...

You can analyze Anything into nothing — Apt analogy. * * * In this segment of UnMind we continue exploring the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen praxis . That last 10-dollar word we may take up in future under “Praxis & Practice.” They are not exactly synonymous. But for now I want to focus our attention on analogy, its usage in Zen teachings, and its reliance on the faculty or process o...

Not symmetrical But then nothing really is — Only in our mind * * * In this segment of UnMind we continue where we left off, discussing the all-important mentoring relationship of teachers to students, and students to teachers, particularly the asymmetrical relationship in Zen training. The success of any mentorship depends almost entirely, 100% plus, on the sincerity and intensity of the student,...

Asymmetrical. Of necessity it is — But need not stay so. * * * Welcome back to UnMind, the podcast in which we tap into Design Thinking to inform our approach to Zen practice and daily life in modern times, especially in America. After the last series posted at midsummer last year — five episodes in which we summarized thirty-two prior segments on the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen — we d...

Designing Sangha Sangha is the fruit Of all of our endeavors — If harmonious. * * * angha is also an operative dynamic of our world. Community already exists; it is just not always very harmonious. Why would Buddha have established the original Order of monks and nuns, when he had a perfectly serviceable community in the form of the Shakya clan, and enjoyed a position of high honor and privilege w...

Designing Dharma Dharma was the point Of 2500 years — And forever more * * * Matsuoka Roshi would often say that most people go through life with something missing; they don’t know what it is, but they definitely know it’s missing. Finally, he said, they come to Zen to find it. Zazen is, of course, not the only way to penetrate the truths of existence, but as Sensei claimed, any method that works...

Designing Buddha Buddha was the first To define design intent — It hasn’t changed much. * * * In the next three segments of UnMind Podcast we will consider the Three Treasures of Buddhism — Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha — from the perspective of design thinking. That is, the method of Zen as consisting of Buddha practice: time on the cushion; Dharma study: researching and interpreting the teachings o...

It’s not personal. But it manifests that way — Universally. * * * As promised in the last segment, we will finish this series of five by taking up the remaining pair of combinations — the intersection of the Personal from the Four Spheres, with the Cessation of suffering from the Four Noble Truths, which involves the Eightfold Path previously touched upon. Personal Cessation is the only kind there...

All are on the Path, Though many do not know it. This Path is no path. * * * The focus of this segment, the intersection of the Social Sphere and the Path to Cessation, sounds dangerously close to “sociopath,” a term that is becoming more and more familiar in the era of extreme divisiveness in the cultural and political landscape, not only in the USA but around the globe. What more appropriate des...

Not unnatural, Suffering is only change. It’s not personal. * * * Continuing where we left off last time, in this segment we will look at the intersection of the Natural sphere with Buddhism’s Origin of suffering. The graphic illustrating correlations between the Four Spheres — Universal, Natural, Social, and Personal; and the Existence, Origin, Cessation, and Eightfold Path to cessation of suffer...

Yes, universal! Existence unlimited to our perception * * * In the last session we concluded the introduction to this summary of the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen by linking Buddha’s Four Noble Truths to my Four Spheres of Influence and Endeavor as encountered in daily life. The semantic model shown illustrates correlations between the Four Spheres — Universal, Natural, Social, and Perso...

Both solve a problem — though of differing import. Zen’s is the broadest. * * * In the last session of live dharma dialog online at the Zen center — transcribed as the last podcast in the series on the most recent spate of mass shootings — the last participant worried that meditation would not help children in the classroom, owing to the complexity of the many personal and social issues they are c...

Final solution — What if there isn’t any? Back to the cushion. * * * We concluded the last segment on perhaps an overly pessimistic note, that engaging the current spate of daily atrocities through the established political process may never result in any of your preferred outcomes. But Zen encourages us to approach life like the superior player plays the game of Go. The inferior player gets bogge...

Be realistic — Give up your designs on life. It has its own plan. * * * In the last segment we addressed the first few questions that arose from the Zen community regarding the most recent mass shootings in the context of buddhadharma and daily life practice, concluding with the point that Zen Buddhism is not overly optimistic on these issues, but certainly not pessimistic, either, as generally re...

Inevitable — Yet so unnecessary! Enough suffering. * * * As mentioned in the first segment of this series, one Sunday at the Zen center we conducted a dialog on the recent school shootings and general dystopian state of affairs, as a kind of “dharma combat,” an open and frank discussion of how Zen practice does or does not address the ongoing chaos of modern life in America. In this and the two fo...

The final lesson. Cannot postpone forever; learned now or never. * * * Each fifth Sunday, of which there are four per year (unless there is yet another anomaly I do not understand about the common calendar), we hold our version of what is called “dharma combat,” or hossen in Japanese. This exercise is based upon our understanding of how the ancestors of Zen structured their public discourse. Publi...

Whose idea was this? It certainly wasn’t mine — Perhaps it is yours? * * * The thread running through this series is the underlying connection, the various links, between Design thinking and Zen, and how they differ from conventional thinking and religion. In considering the topics of the times, such as the spate of school shootings and other mass murders recurring on a daily basis now, it may see...

How to think Design? Nothing is sep’rate in it — Nothing excluded! * * * During the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, like most other people I gained some wait and lost some of my vim and vigor. This is owing to the natural ravages of aging, sickness and death as taught by Buddha, I know, but I want to warn you that your Design thinking can lead you astray if you let it, in the sense that you be...

How to design Zen? No need to redesign it — It is already! * * * In this segment we will continue to explore the underlying or implied question of Buddhism: What is your worldview, exactly and in detail? And: How can you mount challenges to it? Again, there are multiple dimensions, or spheres of influence, to our world, namely the personal, social, natural, and universal. Also again, the influence...

Perfectly nat’ral, A sitting tetrahedron — Equilibrium! * * * We will continue our discussion of the influence of Design thinking on worldview, returning to one of my most influential mentors. I want to share more  of my familiarity with R. Buckminster Fuller, who is perhaps the most underappreciated proponent of Design with a capital “D.” Some of the points I make will be redundant, but Full...

It is laugh or cry — the tragedy of humans in hormonal rage. * * * This is one I did not want to have to write. But owing to the resurgence of mass shootings — emerging to fill the gap, now that the COVID pandemic has cut us some slack — I feel I would be remiss to continue along the lines of treating less controversial dimensions of design thinking, Zen, and the reality we face. Perhaps because I...

Falling through a curve — Sum total of all forces… Zen’s “total function”! * * * In this segment we will return our attention back to the more personal sphere of meditation practice. Beyond any consideration of what unlikely intersections we may find between Design thinking and the complex ethical and political issues of our times — other than personal solutions that may help mitigate the worst co...