## Metadata - Author: [[Tim Burkett , Norman Fischer (Foreword)]] - Full Title: Nothing Holy About It - Category: #books ## Highlights - Basho was not an ordained monk. But he wore the robes of a monk and lived the life of a monk. He was ordained by the authenticity of his heart’s longing. Authenticity is its own authority. According to Suzuki Roshi, it’s the only true authority. Suzuki said, “Things go the way the mind goes. If you think you’re a monk, you’re a monk. If you don’t think you’re a monk, you’re not a monk.” ([Location 265](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=265)) - If we want to experience clarity, we have to accept the truth of insecurity. We live in a world that is ever changing. ([Location 732](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=732)) - Suzuki said, “Enlightenment is an accident. Zen practice makes us accident-prone.” ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=737)) - I mentioned that I’d like to become a priest. Suzuki said, “Okay . . . but you seem to favor zazen over cleaning the floor. You’ll never be a priest as long as you favor zazen over cleaning.” ([Location 796](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=796)) - Suzuki was generally not comfortable giving techniques, which he referred to disparagingly as “stepladder Zen.” When we are given a technique, the practice becomes the perfection of a technique. ([Location 808](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=808)) - Immersion is central to Zen practice. When we are fully engaged in an activity, we don’t feel isolated and alone. With wholehearted engagement, we feel our connectedness; our dynamic, undivided nature is being manifested through activity. ([Location 840](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=840)) - When we are sitting zazen, on the outside it doesn’t look very dynamic. We are just sitting still and doing nothing. But wholehearted zazen is done with the whole body and the whole mind; every cell is doing zazen. Just seeing our thoughts and stories without believing them or suppressing them, just feeling our sensations and emotions without reacting to them, is possibly the most arduous thing for a human being to do. We are fully engaged in the activity of inner transformation. ([Location 843](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=843)) - In Buddhist mythology, the robber of life is Mara, the evil one. There’s a story about Mara and his two attendants, whom I’ll call Mayhem and Confusion. As they travel through a village, they come across a monk who is walking along in a very meditative state. His eyes are cast downward and his face is aglow. Confusion asks Mara what the man is seeing. “A piece of truth,” Mara says calmly. “Doesn’t it bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?” Mayhem asks. “No,” Mara replies. “Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it.” ([Location 883](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=883)) - “A metaphor is only a metaphor until you actually experience it. Then it’s no longer just a metaphor.” ([Location 927](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=927)) - Our commitment is to open up to whatever arises. But this opening up is very subtle. An awareness of the feeling tone associated with opening up is cultivated over time—it takes patience. And courage. ([Location 1000](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1000)) - Disenchantment is often thought of in a negative way because we like being enchanted. We go to great lengths to experience enchantment. But from an Eastern point of view, disenchantment is not negative. ([Location 1040](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1040)) - It’s incredibly painful to feel the gap between what we think we should be and what we appear to be. Labels convince us that we should be someone better, smarter, more ambitious, more disciplined. When we try to live up to a label, we lose our spontaneous joy of living. ([Location 1052](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1052)) - So what do we do, as Zen aspirants, when we realize that our story line is a fallacy? If we’re serious Zen students, we begin to develop comfort with the unknown. Not that we avoid predicting the future, but we know our predictions are uncertain. The more comfortable we are with the unknown, the less we cling to a delusion of predictability. ([Location 1107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1107)) - As Zen practitioners, we learn to carry our desires lightly, like butterflies alighting on our shoulder. We can just watch the delightful butterfly. When it flies off, another will come, then another. If we don’t get clingy or judgmental, we can enjoy them. If you learn nothing else from Zen practice, I hope you learn to hold your desires lightly. ([Location 1476](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1476)) - Even the most compassionate among us is not immune to anger. It can feel like an out-of-control freight train. But as we learn to work with anger through meditation, our mind starts to slow down. Eventually, we begin to see the gaps between our thoughts, like the gaps between train cars. Within the gap there is a sense of ease and calm. When anger flashes, if it is very deep, there may be a moment when we can’t see the gaps. But a trained mind returns quickly, and we again see the space between our thoughts. ([Location 1527](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1527)) - “Flowers fall even though we love them. Weeds grow even though we hate them.” ([Location 1715](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1715)) - Too much success solidifies the ego. Failure cultivates bare awareness, and it inspires courageous effort. To endure failure is to succeed brilliantly. ([Location 1794](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=1794)) - If we say our situation is boring, then we’re going to have sloth and torpor. But there is nothing inherently boring. The feeling of boredom is often connected to self-identity. We feel energized when we’re accomplishing something that we desire or getting away from something for which we have ill will. But when the self has nothing to do in the way of desire or aversion, we may feel dull or bored. ([Location 2589](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2589)) - In Zen there is also a second kind of doubt called Great Doubt. It is not to be confused with the small doubt of the five hindrances, even though small doubt can blossom into Great Doubt if we are able to penetrate it. Zen Master Hakuin popularized the term to mark a certain phase in practice, usually after we’ve been meditating regularly for some time. We begin to see the lack of solidity in our story lines. We realize that our stories can’t support us. The world we carry around in our busy mind starts to dissolve. Great Doubt can be an important phase of Zen practice, but it is not pleasant when you start to question everything—including your so-called self. ([Location 2632](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2632)) - The pause is important in dancing. It’s the same in life. We have to learn to pause. But to really pause, to completely still the body and mind for even a moment, is difficult. Yet without the pause, the leap loses its connection with reality; it loses its meaning. ([Location 2651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2651)) - In meditation we practice living beyond our habits of thought. We practice living a life of freedom. Meditation is an opportunity to train in putting aside whatever comes up and returning to one-pointed focus on our breath. We are aware of the hindrance, but we don’t focus on it. Whatever it is, it can wait. ([Location 2673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2673)) - When we cultivate a full awareness of the uncomfortable, even painful, sensations of desire, we experience the stillness that is also present. It may be hard to believe that desire is permeated by stillness, but this is one of Buddha’s fundamental teachings. ([Location 2787](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2787)) - Tags: [[buddhism]] - Avoid covering up the hindrances with busyness. Rather than ignoring them, pay close attention to them. They are waking places. They show us our stories and how hypnotized we are by them. ([Location 2801](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2801)) - Jack Kornfield used to ask, “What are the top ten tunes?” What are the popular patterns? We need to know them. These popular patterns have probably been with us for a long time. ([Location 2806](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2806)) - Of all the hindrances, anger from pent-up ill will is possibly the most difficult to work with. It’s so strong we get swept away by it, even if we’ve been practicing for forty years. But we can start by working with mild irritation. All it takes is to notice it and be with it with kind attention. If we can stay present with mild irritation, there is a good chance we won’t get broadsided by anger and do something harmful. ([Location 2810](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=2810)) - It takes skillfulness to cultivate true compassion. Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, called compassion without skillful means idiot compassion. This is the energy of Avalokiteshvara without Manjusri. In recovery circles, it is called codependency because our own needs are feeding our desire to help others. ([Location 3126](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=3126)) - There is an ancient Tibetan saying: “Think of all beings as buddha, but keep your hand on your wallet.” ([Location 3447](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=3447)) - Here are four behaviors that are often confused with compassion: 1.   Going along to get along 2.   Giving unsolicited advice 3.   Losing ourselves in another’s suffering 4.   Codependency ([Location 3476](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=3476)) - Distancing is associated with suppressing, repressing, or denying. People confuse distancing with detachment. But detachment is actually the path to intimacy. What we detach from is the drama, which is just a means of distancing ourselves from the difficult emotion. We even create drama around our positive emotions, so we don’t truly experience them in a deep way either. That is why life often feels dull and unsatisfying, even when things are going well. When we are practicing detachment, we have the ability to move in very close to our emotions—but without the drama. ([Location 3692](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=3692)) - For Dogen, there’s no difference between silence and sound. Any time we speak sincerely, great silence is always included. Therefore, there’s no need to deify silence at the expense of sharing, creating, and expression. Furthermore, silence that is not skillful can be misinterpreted and create distance. Zen practice is not about distancing. ([Location 3761](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00WT66RDC&location=3761))