Spiritual Intuition

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(Follow this link to see the November 2019 Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.)

Kanzeon sits quietly

One day some time ago – I think I was 25 or so – I was contemplating going to the temple for a Wednesday evening class. That evening, there was some type of social evening planned. Being all social with groups of people has never been my thing, so I didn’t really want to go. I was probably tired from work but on that evening I didn’t have to get up early for work the next day so, if I was honest with myself, I didn’t have a solid practical reason to not go. My usual practice at the time was to recognize this aversion and the quibbling and to try to work against it by defaulting to going to such things, even if I didn’t want to, as a way of training that habitual pattern. (To do things just because we “want” to, or because we don’t “want” to, can very easily become habits contributing to our suffering.)

At the time, I had also begun to work on trying to rely less on the rules of practice (like, if I have an aversion, I do the thing I don’t want to) and more on the process of sitting still Continue reading →

The Life of Training

Portland Buddhist Priory Posted on by

Follow this link to see the October 2019 Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.

– By, Rev. Master Daizui Macphillamy Head of our Order from 1996 to 2002

This transcription, originally published in the Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives is of part of a talk given during Jukai at Shasta Abbey in the 1990s, edited by Rev. Master Hugh.

Huineng’s Robe Sculpture at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey

When do we start Buddhist training? When do we keep on training? You start training – at least I did – when you see someone else training. Because, well, how else am I going to know it’s possible! Reading books is great, but… (sigh) for me at least, it takes seeing someone else walking the path. So that’s how I know, when I see someone else walking the path. And we’ll come back to that point.

There is a saying that, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” Unfortunately a number of people take this as something magical: that somehow the Continue reading →

A Mistake Was Made: Taking a Problem to Meditation

Portland Buddhist Priory Posted on by

Follow this link to see the Priory Newsletter where this was originally published.

Recently, someone was asking me, via email, about some turbulent difficulties they were having with a family member and it seemed like it might be helpful to share a revised and expanded version of my written response to that person.

Just talking with someone else about a difficult situation can be helpful in clarifying what might be going on, but bringing a problem to practice can add an extra dimension to our insight and, in addition to the help this might add to resolving the trouble, it can also help us to deepen our practice.

One of the things that emerges when we bring our troubles to practice Continue reading →