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MITRA BISHOP ROSHI is the founder of Mountain Gate-Sanmonji. She first encountered the practice of Buddhism while living in Asia and began practicing Zen in 1974 while living in Turkey. Later she trained at the Rochester Zen Center with Roshi Philip Kapleau. Mitra-roshi received a B.A. from Indiana University, and worked in graphic, interior, and architectural design for many years. She has two children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
In 1986 Mitra-roshi was ordained by Roshi Kapleau. In 1992, after completing her formal training in Rochester, she went to Okayama, Japan, where she continued to deepen and broaden her practice at Sogen-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple, under the guidance of the Ven. Harada Shodo-roshi.
When Mitra-roshi returned to the United States in 1996, she was formally sanctioned to teach by Roshi Kapleau as a Dharma Heir. In that same year she was asked to come to Hidden Valley Zen Center in San Marcos, California to guide the Sangha there. Concurrently, she established Mountain Gate as a monastic practice center in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Taking to heart the admonition, “There’s no beginning to enlightenment, no end to practice, no beginning to practice, no end to enlightenment,” she continues to train intensively with Shodo Harada-roshi.
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GUEST SPEAKER 7/28
AZC hosts
KEIZAN TITUS O'BRIAN from the Valley Dragon Zen center in Albuqueruque
Keizan Titus O'Brien has been investigating Zen and other contemplative disciplines for over 20 years. He was ordained as a Soto priest in 2011. He brings extensive yoga, Qi Gong, and martial arts training to his understanding of Zen. A professional artist, he enjoys zazen (zen practice) as the ultimate medium of (no-) self expression.
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from The Awakening of Faith
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The following selections are taken from THE AWAKENING OF FAITH IN MAHAYANA, translated by Yoshito S. Hakeda, Copyright 1967 Columbia University Press
Question: How should he practice cessation and clear observation?
Answer: What is called "cessation" means to put a stop to all characteristics (lakshana) of the world of sense objects and of the mind, because it means to follow the samatha (tranquility) method of meditation. What is called "clear observation" means to perceive distinctly the characteristics of the causally conditioned phenomena (samsara), because it means to follow the vipasyana (discerning) method of meditation.
Question: How should he follow these?
Answer: He should step by step practice these two aspects and not separate one from the other, for only then will both be perfected.
Should there be a man who desires to practice "cessation", he should stay in a quiet place and sit erect in an even temper. His attention should be focused neither on breathing nor on any form or color, nor on empty space, earth, water, fire, wind, nor even on what has been seen, heard, remembered, or conceived. All thoughts, as soon as they are conjured up, are to be discarded, and even the thought of discarding them is to be put away, for all things are essentially in the state of transcending thoughts, and are not to be created from moment to moment nor to be extinguished from moment to moment; thus one is to conform to the essential nature of Reality (dharmata) through this practice of cessation. And it is not that he should first meditate on the objects of the senses in the external world and then negate them with his mind, the mind that has meditated on them. If the mind wanders away, it should be brought back and fixed in "correct thought". It should be understood that this "correct thought" is the thought that whatever is, is mind only and that there is no external world of objects as conceived; even this mind is devoid of any marks of its own which would indicate its substantiality and therefore is not substantially conceivable as such at any moment. Even if he arises from his sitting position and engages in other activities, such as going, coming, advancing, or standing still, he should at all times be mindful of the application of expedient means of perfecting "cessation", conform to the immobile principle of the essential nature of Reality, and observe and examine the resulting experiences. When this discipline is well-mastered after a long period of practice, the ideations of his mind will be arrested. Because of this, his power of executing "cessation" will gradually be intensified and become highly effective, so that he will conform himself to, and be able to be absorbed into, the "concentration (samadhi) of Suchness".
This section from the Awakening of Faith outlines a core practice in a few paragraphs. Buddhist teachers and scholars have been commenting on this teaching for over a thousand years. Yet it is brief enough to carry in our pocket, purse, or on our smart phone. It is an excellent resource in the midst of a confusing day. I have put in bold text a few sections that highlight areas I wish to call to your attention.
As a refresher, earlier in the Awakening of Faith the author provides a basic outline:
Generally speaking, Mahayana is to be expounded from two points of view. One is the principle and the other is the significance. The principle is "the Mind of the sentient being". This Mind includes in itself all states of being of the phenomenal world and the transcendental world. On the basis of this Mind, the meanings of Mahayana may be unfolded.
It is with this preamble, the text recommends: All thoughts, as soon as they are conjured up, are to be discarded, and even the thought of discarding them is to be put away.
This moment arises: subject and object arise and meet each other, and then disappear in meeting as the moment ends. This spontaneous activity of time is free from thinking and concepts. This essential activity of arising/disappearing is what we must realize. Thinking is a secondary, subsequent activity. Acting on an arising thought - manifesting our thinking - is different from merely thinking about something. As my teacher used to say, “Thoughts that are not manifest are illusion.” Narratives, explanations, and interpretations are all subjective creations which affirm the illusion of a self/observer in our own life. Life and practice are not spectator sports. Disappear into whole-hearted, full-bodied participation and the illusion of self vanishes.
The immediate moment is always arising as a single, unified totality. Our practice is to embrace our original wholeness, the arising moment, and ignore thinking. Just as the vast sky absorbs sound, wind, and clouds in silence, let arising thoughts disappear into the surrounding space. The essential unity is utterly silent and still, yet it embraces everything.
conform to the essential nature of Reality
Time, arising and disappearing, is the dominate activity of our lives. Time cannot be stopped or paused. There is no “time out” to think or evaluate; we must meet and respond, moment to moment to moment. Furthermore, reality doesn’t have to “make sense” or be comprehensible to us. The dynamic nature of time, continually arising/dissolving, means every moment, every thing arising within the moment, is always new, vivid, and ephemeral. If we doubt or hesitate, then we cannot move with the speed of life. We will continually be getting caught by our attaching mind. The flow of time never stops. The arising moment arises as a whole, without boundaries or distinctions. Within this wholeness, people or situations will come to our awareness. The only way to meet each moment and move with it as it is, is to unconditionally embrace every arising person and thing as he, she, or it presents itself - no interpreting, no deflecting, no denying. Complete, unconditional embrace of the ever new arising moment is our practice. To say the same thing differently: manifest the moment as oneself. Always a new moment, always manifest a new self. By manifesting the arising moment, free of subjective busyness, we conform to the essential nature of Reality. Understanding comes from manifesting the one true suchness, not from believing some idea or developing some explanation.
If the mind wanders away, it should be brought back and fixed in "correct thought". It should be understood that this "correct thought" is the thought that whatever is, is mind only and that there is no external world of objects as conceived;
THIS present moment is the only moment. It disappears as it arises, and there is nothing else. Always there is only THIS one arising moment. My teacher often said, “There is only one world.” There is only one world; there is only one time. Furthermore, a central teaching in the Awakening of Faith is that there is only one reality: the imperceptible essence, the Dharmakaya. The momentary manifestation of THIS moment is only a product of mind, a momentary illusion. Anything that arises, disappears; whatever arises and disappears cannot be Reality. This moment’s experience is real, but not Reality.
As a closing comment, the Thursday discussion group has been reading from The Mirror of Zen, a book of the teachings of Korean Zen Master So Sahn. In this week’s selection he had this comment:
In the Zen dharma, however, when you keep moment-mind, abiding at one point, things that never change and things that change according to causes and conditions, true nature and appearances, and substance and function are all realized as existing simultaneously. It is therefore extremely important that you abandon the view that things do or do not exist: everything is fundamentally the same True Suchness, as it is, and yet everything is clearly distinct.
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Albuquerque Zen Center is run solely on donations from its members and those who, as we do, strive for clarity. We welcome your donations.
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AZC would to thank the following for their contributions to the center:
C Alelyunas, J Becker, D Cabral, K Cummins, D D'Agostino, M Eddy, M Hart, P Livingston, H Lurie, L Maki, Myosho M, T McGuire, C Mead & M Penhall, F Miller, N Montoya, D Mullen, D Noel, D Nolte, Hosen R, M Reese, S Reiger, P Ryder, E Shir, J&D Taber, P Vesey, D Wolfskeht, Bodhi Manda ZC
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