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Sanmai- ittai

March 5, 2010 – 11:39 pm

LotusSanmai-ittai is a Japanese word, basically it means being together in harmony three elements. It is used in the Art of Kyudo, Sometimes called Japanese Zen Archery. Bringing together the Mind, Body/spirit and Bow as one unit to preform a perfect shot. In the world of Shaolin Kung Fu and other martial arts we also speak of  bring the three elements , the three states of being together to make one harmonious move, form, or performance. In Chan we see our existence, the universe on three planes or as three elements, The Mind, the Physical, the Spirit. One of the things different from our practice and other “Zen” forms is we do our practice to unite the three elements, the three faces of life. As I said before Chan is not just about sitting.

I had written several post on Sanmai-ittai on my blog concerning my Kyudo practice. One dealing with using sitting Chan (spirit), Tai Chi ( body) and Kyudo ( mind) as three element practice. Chan as a foundation, to build the Chi and focus the mind to support the other levels. Coming from a Shaolin Martial Art background I tend to look our Chan practice as a support for the physical to develop the spiritual and mental.

At our weekly Thursday Chan practice there were just three of us, two sisters and myself. We were discussing the next session for our group, changes , additions. What can we do different to bring in and keep the attention of the new seekers. Sister Y.C. has been with Shifu for a while and is very well versed in his teaching. She agreed to handle the lecture part of the next session. She is very good and comfortable with that. Sister P.C. is very good at research and finding facts, information, books, etc. She agreed to handle that side of things for the development of the class. I still consider myself a youngster with the group , even though I have been at this for a while. I feel I lack the depth of knowledge my supportive sisters do. I am there with the class but I feel my role has been more as moral support than and real help. Once in a while I can add my two cent worth of experience and knowledge from another view or support of one shared. I really feel more like I learn more than I give and am not much help.

Sister Y.C. says we are going advertise this group from now as Shaolin Chan here in Berkeley as that is our foundation background. Can you lead/teach Tai Chi and perhaps some motion Chan. Oh, I thought something I can do, here is my role for the group now. As I listened to this all unfold. it came to me Sanmai-ittai . This is a manifestation of the three elements of Chan. Physical, Mental, and Spiritual. We are it right here. I shared this with the sisters and P.C. pointed it out right away who was what. We got a good laugh at the workings of the Tao.

Fuu | Chan, Connection, Dharma, Health, Qi & Chakra, Realization, Relationships, karma | Comments (0)

Chan from another perspective…

February 24, 2010 – 4:41 pm

lotusChan (Zen) from another perspective:

Life is more than breathing…

From time to time I have these moments of connected enlightenment. What I mean is one thing connects to something different, and I see the roots of sameness. Eg: Chan, sailing, golf, bowling, painting, Kung Fu, etc.

As some of my Chan family here who will read this know I am involved with Shaolin Kung Fu teaching and training. So my approach, vision, outlook is somewhat different from other practitioners. I’m seeking that harmonious balance within the Physical, Mental and Spiritual practice of Chan. Enhancing everyday stuff in my physical practice (s) as well as mental, and spiritual health.

I have done small experiments with Chan and Tai Chi practice, Chan and Kung Fu practice each were interesting to feel the results. In some cases not a dramatic thing that could be explained in words, more of  sense, a connection, that light bulb going off. Most who practice know about Chan and health, sitting, Yoga, in the work place, dealing with other people, Karma, etc.

Part of my latest studies over the last several years, actually about the same time as I started Chan has been Kyudo. Japanese archery, it is also called Zen Kyudo, or Zen Archery. Interestingly there is somewhat of a controversy regarding that name. Is it Zen or not Zen.  That is a rather long story to explain how this happened. Part of the reason is because of peoples small view of Zen ( Chan) they see it as only sitting or doing the monk thing, the calmness of mind. We who practice know Chan is everything…

Shaolin Heart Chan practice is different from your everyday Japanese Zen, Soto or Rinzai. Our practice has the sitting like others, and it is the foundation, but it is only the outside practice. Like doing the movements of Tai Chi are only the outside of Tai Chi Chuan. We of Heart Chan have the deeds to help the suffering and all, but it is more than that, that is still the outside practice. We do not sit and do the chatting or reading the Sutras as the meat of our practice. Our is an active meditation or sitting. We work on activating our Chakras, on moving Chi, we have motion Chan practice, which are physical movements, somewhat like Chi Gong. So our “Zen” practice is not just about sitting and going Ommmm, being in a calm state of mind, it is Physical as well as Mental and Spiritual We connect to Chi, Chi is Life, the Universal power, Blood. Therefore it is in all things, no duality, connected to all things. Sailing, Kung Fu, Kyudo, walking, gardening, healing and yes, enlightenment.

The other day in Kyudo class Sensei  (Shifu) and I got into the subject of Zen. Starting because of his telling me something on the Kanji of “Zen”.

zen

Sometimes or at one time the Japanese wrote it different from Chinese. Having to do with the strokes on the radical. Another one of the topics discussed was centering and expanding Chi. On one of the Sensei’s ( Shifu’s) Kyudo shots, he said he was practicing bring up the Chi. On another he said he was expanding the chest. He could not do them both as the same time yet, so he was going back and forth with them until the control merged. Like focus going from left hand to right hand until they connected. One thought, one mind, one arrow. Balancing the shot from the Tan Tien and not the upper body, then the other way around. This set me to thinking about our Chan practice we shift from one Chakra to another and then try to connect them. Shifu says focus on one until it is clearly active then move on to another Chakra. Ok, now we are on something I can understand. This was in keeping with our Chan practice, opening the chakras and expanding the Chi. Bring the Chi up from the Tan Tien or Hara/ navel and expanding it in to the other parts of the body. Connecting one Chakra to another and activating them all.  Then seeing how that effects the power of the shot, the balance of the body, the expanding of the energy outward, shooting from the Bones as stated in the Kyuhon ( the Manual of Kyudo).
I tried that on my next shot. Not thinking of the Tenuchi ( grip), the hands, expanding the chest none of that. I just let the body lock into place as I did a large draw, Hikiwaki to Kai ( drawing ). I locked into a position that felt supported. From there I focused Tan Tien/Navel Chakra like we do in Chan sitting practice on the Navel Chakra and bring up the Chi from there and pushing toward the target and out. Like a two direction punch we do in proper Kung Fu or a push in Tai Chi. Expanding the body with the Chi, raising it then outward rather than thinking of opening the chest or arms or anything.  Bam, the arrow hit firm, the yumi ( bow) spun, the right arm recoiled. Nice! Sensei said, Yes, that was it, like that, everything was there. Now the challenge is can you do it again. Sou ne (ah yes) ! I thought. I did the second arrow, still good, but not as good as the first, too much thought was there. Hmmm, so now the to do that consistently at will part, that is yet another Chan challenge.
Kung Fu is more than fighting,
Kyudo is more than hitting the target,
Chan is more than sitting,
There is no duality

Fuu | Chan | Comments (0)

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Alameda

February 16, 2010 – 12:12 pm

It’s here the year of the Tiger. This time officially with the lunar calendar. The Chan family here in the East bay had a small dinner gathering for the event. Just a small Hot Pot dinner, in Japan called Nabe. For those who do not know it looks like this:

You can guess the rest. Since I am a fish-a-terian, I had a seperate one I cooked one the stove.

There was only 6 of us. My wife had to work so she had food set home to her ( xie xie she said). Most of the talk of course was Chan and well …food. Being the only non-native Chinese speaker there, everyone cut back and forth Chinese to English when they remembered I could not follow everything ( however I did get some of it). :-)

The big topic was that Shifu was in LA, and they were gathering car pools to go see him on Sunday for a Monday visit. I would have liked to go, however it was too much, too soon for a rush  trip to LA, for one day. Also Monday the day to see Shifu was the day LZ wanted me to go to J-town with her. She has been very supportive of my stuff and I felt I should stay and do this for her. Also Sunday was Valentine’s day. I have Kyudo in the morning, she is working in the afternoon and evening. So Monday is basically our Valentines day. I have already meet the Shifu, it would be nice to see him again, he has good Chi. If my Chinese was much much better I most likely would have jumped to go.  I would have a better sense connection with him as they do. Speaking or listening directly with/to him adds another dimension to the lessons/lectures.  Some things get lost in translation, even though Brother JM does a great job. If it is meant to be, another time will come, this is how the Tao works.

As for the dinner, it was pleasant. Afterward we had desserts, some fruit, cake, sweet Taro and few laughs and called it a night.

I was told generally this type of thing goes on ALL night usually. Eating, some drinks, a game of Mahjong, more eating, etc, etc.

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Since the phones were constantly ringing and plans being made for the trip there was a lot going on out of the usual.  We did not stay long as everyone had to get up early on Sunday, them to travel, me early Kyudo training - part III.

It was a good New Years eve and a filling dinner with the Chan clan. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

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Bodhisattva

November 21, 2009 – 11:25 am

Newark, CA 2009We were gather together on November 14, 2009,  not because someone wanted to meet someone else, not because we were empty or lonely inside, not because someone asked us to show up, not because we were searching outside of our hearts.  We came because we were all Bodhisattva in our previous lives and now.

I am grateful that Buddha enabled me to show up.

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The Finger pointing to the moon

October 19, 2009 – 11:21 am


One of the things we learn in Chan is not to place so much value on labels, names, not to get lost in them. eg: God, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha. Names are just a way of putting something in a box, in a sense of limiting something. The Tao Te Ching says, that “The Tao that can be named is not the True Tao”. As an Artist I tend to think more with one side of the brain, you know the left and right brain thing. I tend to see things at times more in a broader sense  and not analyze things so much. I purchased a small Omeyage (gift) for the Tanuki Dojo a small ornamental set of Swords and brought it in on Sunday. One of the Sempai, seemed as though he could not mentally accept it as simply a decoration, a trinket. It had to be “something” it needed a purpose. I heard ,” it seems to be a letter opener to me”, I heard this several times.  Is this a joke or serious I was asked? My response was, it is like Monday’s. Like Monday’s he says. Yes, Monday’s are not good or bad, they just are, it is how we interpret them that make it good or bad. Monday’s just are. These swords, like Monday’s are whatever you want them to be…

hands

In Kyudo terms perhaps my Sempai, was missing part of his Kyudo lesson and focusing too much on the “mon” ( target ) and not the spirit of the shot. In Zen terms, getting lost on the finger pointing to the moon, and missing all the heavenly glory

It makes me wonder why labels are so important to people. He his White, Black, Christian, Jew, Buddhist. The storm is bad, it blew down this house , that tree, ruin the floor.  It also brought much needed water for crops, drinking, it gives life and takes it away…The storm just is, we interpret it into something . Perhaps it is just our human need to organize things, life, the universe…perhaps what we perceive as a sense of control of things. We can not control it, but it we label it , in our minds it gives us some sense of control by limiting it with the label.

moon

Names, labels have their place, their need, but sometimes we get too lost on the Finger Pointing to the Moon.


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Chan on the water

July 6, 2009 – 9:29 am

Some of the Berkeley Heart Chan family celebrate the 4th of July Holiday sailing the Alameda Estuary in CA on a boat named Zen.

chan-sailors1

To sail one needs to be fully mindful and in the present, sailing is a very Chan activity. We were very in the moment balancing with the wind and water riding the liquid Chi of the Estuary…

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Berkeley Chan Retreat 09

July 2, 2009 – 12:00 pm

Our Heart Chan Berkeley group had our second 1 day retreat on Sunday.  There were some 25 people in attendance. Our senior brother from LA came up. He is 1 of 3 the senior students directed by our Shifu in Taiwan to represent the group here in the states.

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He was my first contact with the Heart Chan Group. He opened the retreat with a talk on being like a baby again. Not Physically of course but in our attitude towards life and others, and opening our hearts and minds. Connecting to the world, the universe via our hearts. Not to sectionlize our life like pieces of a pie but to be more like a tree where all sections, parts flow from us like branch’s. Also he spoke on how our practice , our lives are composed of three elements, Body, Mind Spirit.

After that we had a 45 min meditation period. That was my first, it was not too bad. It would have been even easier if I had not been having knee pain for the last few days. However I persevered…!

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After lunch was my turn, I had been asked to do a section on Motion Chan and Tai Chi. In our Meditation centers n Taiwan there are monks from Shaolin temple who teach Tai Chi and Kung Fu. Being as our Shifu is Asst. Director of Shaolin it is part of the exchange that has been worked out.  I had been thinking how to approach this for the last month, in the time given. I had 45 min now, instead of 15 min. I gave a short lecture on the nature of Chan, Motion and sitting. same coin different faces. or in another form, the Yin and Yang of meditation. We in order to be in balance in life we need to do both in order to keep the harmony of Body, Mind, Spirit, and Yin meditation and a Yang meditation. I also touched on in another form ( point of view) the earth is our body,  man is the mind, chi is the spirit. we need to treat our earth as it is our body, we are the mind of the Universe, chi is our spirit. I do not think I as as clear as I wanted to be, because I was winging it with the lecture. However everyone sad they got it…Hao la !

Next I went to the practical part and introduced Tai Chi walk. explained the benefits, the state of mindfulness and mechanics of it. Some got it right off, others struggled with it which is natural for something totally new to some. Others related it things they have done before and it clicked. I had them do it in a line around the room and back to their starting point. I thought it went well.

Next up was some Tai Chi movements. The opening of Yang 24 and through to grasping bird’s tail. I did a demo, then had the group follow three or four times with me leading. For the most part they got it. I was surprised in that short amount of time. Afterward many said they were very please with the instruction and some who never thought of doing Tai Chi were now open to the possibility of learning it. All said they felt calmer and more relaxed afterward. nice, mission accomplished.

After our next break and mediation session I got to speak with JM shxiong about a few varid topics. He gave me some tips on things I could expect as I practiced Chan more. Also some warnings about doing Feng Shui or astrology readings as a job without knowing the proper way to release the negative chi, or karma I would be taking on. We spoke of Merit. DaMo ( Bodhidharma) told the Emperor his acts of building temples as such gave him no merit. Yet I heard talk of gaining merit to becoming a Buddha or Bodhisattva.  He explained that helping raise a soul from suffering , taking on their Karma, helping them with their karma, was a way to gain merit. Doing something from the heart purely to help another soul with their suffering. Not from building temples and the like. In the Bible it is said about a rich-man not entering ( buying his way) into the kingdom of heaven…

There were a lot more things shared and expressed, that I will not put or try to put here. Other than one question that was put to him by another about religion and our Chan practice.

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The answer given, was we use Buddhist terms to explain concepts, these could also be explained in Christian or Taoist terms. Our practice does not carry the dogma, rules, restriction, worship, formalities that a religion does. Ours is just a practice to enhance of living. One can have any faith and practice Chan, there is no conflict or competition.

_/\_

Fuu | Chan, Health, Qi & Chakra, Uncategorized, karma | Comments (0)

USC Meditation Session Summer 2009 - 2nd meeting (6/9/09)

June 11, 2009 – 10:31 am

Today we have only four people in the class. Three of them have been keeping really good attendance and one of them has stopped for a while (I am glad to have her back!).

Since in the beginning we had only three people and I wanted to wait a little bit and see if more people were coming, I led some yoga stretches to loosen up our joints. Then we did Arm Twisting and Leg Kicking. Right after we finished yoga and Motion Chan, the fourth people came in! Perfect timing! Then we practiced Navel Chakra for about 20 minutes. I think it’s full moon today (at least close to) and one guy felt it was a good session just like I did.

I told a story that I heard from Sister Young-Lien over the past weekend. Once Buddha told one of his disciple (disciple A) to go get some water from a well. The Buddha gave him the directions and told him there would be an old lady and he should politely ask that lady to give him some water from the well. Disciple A did so but the old lady was mad and didn’t want to give him water. So he came back with nothing. Then the Buddha asked disciple B to do the same thing. Wondered and thought he’ll get the same results, Disciple B still went. However, the old lady was so kind and happy to see him and gave him water. The two disciple was wondering why this old lady had such different reactions to them. The Buddha explained. In one of their past lives, that old lady was a rat. The rat was crushed dead by a horse car. When the past life of disciple A passed by, he thought “it’s so gross!” However, when the past life of disciple B passed by, he was compassionate and buried the body of the rat.

I guess this story told us why we feel differently to people even before we actually talk to them. There are connections between people and these might come from past lives. Then everybody kind of talked about what they think about the story. Some think the idea of past lives is natural to them but some don’t. However, they think it’s interesting to hear about Buddhist concepts and sometimes they can find parallel in Christian.

onebottle | Uncategorized | Comments (1)

USC Meditation Session Summer 2009 - 1st meeting (6/2/09)

June 11, 2009 – 10:29 am

Today is the first meeting during Summer after a month or so break. I knew we’ll have a smaller group because a lot of students are not around during Summer, but I still run a weekly meeting for the grad students and some USC staff. Today we actually had 7 people, which was pretty good for Summer. 2 of them were from Fall 2008 semester which was surprising for me. During Summer, I plan to just review the chakras and concepts we learned in Spring and make the meeting more informal. This way people can get to know each other better and also we may have more discussion.

We started off with Motion Chan as usual; we did Arm Dropping and Body Earthquake while a few of them came into the room late. I found it good to have Motion Chan in the beginner not only because everybody get to relax their body before sitting but also we can kind of wait for people coming in at the same time. It is not so distracted for Motion Chan as for Sitting Chan. Then we practiced Navel Chakra for about 25 minutes. Everybody kind of felt it’s a long session probably because it’s been a while from last practice! I encouraged everyone to pick it up from today.

I brought Master’s book of wisdom with me today and I read “Life Force and Breathing” where the Master talks about how we restructure our physical form through belly breathing in order to directly use the universal life force/solar energy instead of taking it in indirectly through the food consumption. From this I talked about how Chan practice is a holistic practice because we not only talker about spiritual practice but also physical practice and the relationship between human beings and the Nature. I used the example of full moon and ask everyone to experiment on themselves by seeing if they feel their meditation different on the day of the full moon. I also wanted to talk about the 24 solar term (jie2 qi4) too but I didn’t know how to explain it….but anyway, I also said you have to meditate everyday in order to tell if it’s really different on the day of the full moon………….

By the way, if you look up the catalog of the LA library, you can find Master’s book already! It’s interesting that they add “chan shi” in the author…

onebottle | Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Heart Chan at Berkeley 8th meeting (4/23)

April 29, 2009 – 8:25 pm
There were seven people in the class: Lusineh, Zain, French, Yi-Chun, Kiki, my friend and I. First we did a 20-min meditation on the Root Chakra. It was tough for most of us this time. But it’s normal to feel more pain when focusing on the Root Chakra.


Today’s topic is the Buddhist idea of imprints or Karma. First, I told them that they don’t have to believe in it. But since we are working on the Root Chakra now, we need to understand the teachings in Buddhism related to this Chakra.
I used the way that imprints/Karma is brought out in The Diamond Cutter: What makes different people have different encounters and situations? In the same environment/market, why do some people always succeed effortlessly while some people fail all the time? We usually know HOW that difference was made but we don’t know WHY. The Buddism tells us why.

To understand Karma, we need to understand what constitute us. I introduced the different layers of consciousness in Buddhism. The outermost layers are our sensations, then our mind-consciousness, the subconsciousness, and the deepest inside is our Inner Nature. Our Inner Nature has all the goodness and supreme power, but it is covered by layers of obstacles. If we can purify the layers that covers our Inner Nature, and enter the realm of the Inner Nature, then it’s called enlightenment. (I hope I am getting it right! If not, please correct me and I will have to clarigy it in the next meeting!)

Then I used the metaphor from The Diamond Cutter again: What these layers of consciousness do is like a videotape recorder. It records whatever it gets exposed to, including what we do, what we say and what we think. In ancient books of Buddhism, these records or imprints are just like seeds. Like natural seeds, they will grow up. They are like airplanes queued up in the runway of the airport waiting to take off. The stronger imprints gets to take off first while the fainter imprints would stay longer but their strength build up every minute. As the imprint plane takes off, it takes effect from the subconsciousness into the conscious or physical level. Then it menifests itself as our encounters, our physical conditions, our perceptions, and even the way we think. That’s why some people are always having pessimistic thoughts. It is because our mind patterns have already set by these imprints seeded in the subconsciousness. If we don’t uninstall the imprints, we will keep having the same mind pattern.

Besides imprints that are accumulated since we were born, we also carried imprints from our past lives. And these imprints from our past lives determine where we were born and tracks of our lives. I mentioned one of my friend, who is an astrologer. She has been an astrologer for a while and seen many people’s constalletions. She said that most people can never escape the tracks that are already predetermined for them from their constellations. Only two kinds of people can lead their lives differently from their predetermined tracks: Those who survived from disasters, and those who are in the right spiritual pracite. Only these two kinds of people have the chances to change their mind patterns or uninstall the bad programs. The formers change their mind pattern because they are awakened by the life-threatening experiences. For spiritual practitioners, two ways o uninstall the bad programs in our subconsciousness: 1) To get connected to our Inner Nature and get the power to purify the outer layers, 2) An enlightened spiritual teacher can remove the seeds. However, most people cannot achieve 1) by themselves. That’s why Guru is so important in Tibetan and Chan Buddhism - which aim at ultimate enlightenment.

Then we didn’t have time doing another meditation.

Athena | Dharma, Uncategorized | Comments (0)