Zen is a search for truth through action. It's less a religion or even a philosophy than it is an attitude. There's a story about a Zen archery master who was asked to teach a course in Big Sur, California. A target was set up on a beautiful grassy area on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The master took his bow, notched the arrow, took careful aim, and shot. The arrow sailed high over the target, went past the railing, beyond the cliff, plunging into the ocean far below. The master looked happily at the shocked students and shouted, "Bull's-eye!"
 
As I get deeper and deeper into the practice of Zen (meditation), I find that it is nothing at all like what I expected it to be. My arrow doesn't hit the target but goes exactly where it goes according to my real action. Life gets you in all kind of funky situations. You act out of where you really are, not out of some ideal of where you think you ought to be. The whole "ought to" business is just a waste of time anyway. It's never what it ought to be. Since "ought to" is an idealistic concept, you will never do what you ought to do. Caring about what other people think I ought to be, say, or do has never led to anything but suffering.
 
But we can still care deeply about taking aim. Today I try to take aim carefully and let the arrow fly. Wherever it goes, "Bull's-eye!"

 
The Wednesday evening meditation classes at the Yoga Co-op on Drayton Street are ending at the end of the year. Thanks to all for your support. It was great fun to offer this to the community for the past several years.
 
I will be facilitating another meditation class at Savannah Power Yoga, 7360 Skidaway Rd., Unit H-1, Sandfly, as part of their Clean program in January. There will be three classes on Sunday nights, January 15, 22, and 29 at 5:45 pm. See www.savannahpoweryoga.com for more info.

The Meditation Class teaches a generic mindfulness stress reduction meditation based predominately on Jon Kabot Zinn’s MBSR Programs, Herbert Benson’s research on the Relaxation Response, and Soto Zen practice.  The class would provide some instruction, a specific time for practice, and time for questions and comments. Feel free to bring your own sitting cushions if desired. Folding chairs and bolsters are available in the classroom. For more information contact Cleveland Beach at 912-429-7264.

The Yoga Co-op Savannah
2424 Drayton Street
Savannah, GA 31401
Wednesdays 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Class fees are $13 (less with membership)
For more information or to schedule a class go to:
http://www.yogacoopsavannah.com

Before enlightenment: Life is a series of one experience after another leading to confusion.
After enlightenment: Life is a series of one experience after another leading to confusion. But it's ok.
Live lightly in the world. 

We are all mad when we are twenty. And because of it we cause pain farther on down the road. An then, if we are not weaklings, we have to take possession of our old madness and try to soothe its issue.
Charles Frazier, Thirteen Moons

Are Humans really flawed by nature? I have never been able to buy into this concept. I think that we are created in the image of God, that we are by nature God incarnate when we are born, and that we are socialized into unskillful means of thinking and behaving as we grow older. We let our egos run the show and become self centered and tend to error in our ways. I believe that our main purpose in life is to get back to that state of innocence, trust, fearlessness and the ability to completely live in the present moment we had as little children. Jesus said that you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven except that you be as a little child, and he said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now. Anytime we choose to be in the present. Like a little child.

When you sit, noticing the breath and the body on the chair or cushion, noticing the thoughts and feelings in the mind and heart and perhaps also the sounds in the room and the stillness, something else also begins to come into view. You notice the most fundamental of all facts: you are alive. You are a living, breathing, embodied human being. You can actually feel this—feel the feeling of being alive. You can rest in this basic feeling, the nature of life, of consciousness, the underlying basis of everything you will ever experience—even the negativity. Sitting there with this basic feeling of being alive, you will feel gratitude. After all, you didn’t ask for this; you didn’t earn it. It is just there, a gift to you. It won’t last forever, but for now, in this moment, here it is, perfect, complete. And you are sharing it with everything else that exists in this stark, basic, and beautiful way. Whatever your problems and challenges, you are, you exist in this bright world with others, with trees, sky, water, stars, sun, and moon. If you sit there long enough and regularly enough you will feel this, even in your darkest moments.

And based on this experience, you will reflect differently on your life. What is really important? How much do your expectations and social constructs really matter? What really counts? What is the bottom line for a human life?

To be alive. Well, you are alive.

To love others and be loved by others. Well, you do love, and it is within your power to love more deeply. And if you do, it is guaranteed that others will respond to you with more love.

To be kind to others and to receive kindness is also within your power, regardless of expectations, losses, and circumstances.

You need to eat every day, it is true. You need a good place to sleep at night. You need some sort of work to do, but probably you have these things, and if you do you can offer them to others. Once you overcome the sting and virulence of your naturally arising negativity, and return to the feeling of being alive, you will think more clearly about what matters more and what matters less in your life. ~   Norman Fischer

Andrew Carnegie once told Napoleon Hill that the greatest day of his life was that day on which he discovered how much space he could occupy, how much good will he could command by the simple means of rendering more service and better service than he was expected to give. It changed his life. Every time you go the extra mile, said Mr. Carnegie, you place someone under obligation to you, the sort of obligation which must and will be repaid willingly from one source or another. I hope you heard me, the very depth of your being. Do no hold yourself back any longer. Whatever it is that you're doing that is constructive, that is creative, go the extra mile. Don't just go the extra mile, go the second mile. Do it with all of the energy, with all of the power, with all of the love, with all of the commitment that is in your being. Do it, be it. Share yourself. ~ Jack Boland

We all have to reconsider our values in society and live a simpler life. We have to reconsider our version of happiness.

People are getting busier and busier. We are like fishes living in a place where water is lacking. We don't feel comfortable, we don't have space, we lack time. We may have more money than in the past but we have less space and less happiness and less love. So we should have a revolution which must start with a collective awakening. We have to stop and look for another direction.

It is possible for us to be something and to do something now, don't despair. There is something we can all do. There is still a chance. Recognise that and do it and you will find peace. Don't allow yourself to be carried away by despair. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is eternally Functional, Adaptable, and Sustainable. These are the Basic Principles of Life, and they cannot be violated or rendered in any way inoperable, or Life would cease to be. When human beings embrace the extraordinary idea presented here, the process of change will be seen for what it is: the ultimate expression of Divinity Itself, sustaining Itself through adaptations that render Itself eternally magnificent.
     Change is an announcement of Life's intention to go on. Change is the fundamental impulse of Life Itself.

You can always tell when somebody is a practitioner. It doesn’t have to be a Zen practitioner or a musician. It can be somebody who does a certain profession, whether it’s weaving, or anything. You can tell if they have practice about it. Or take a mechanic, an old fashioned mechanic, where you drive your car in. He starts it up and says, “Oh, the timing is off.” Everything about the car is internalized. The sound of it, the feel of it. He’ll be able to tell something about an old-fashioned car, just from practice.