UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Hell to Pay

Having sown the wind,

we are reaping the whirlwind.

Mother Nature’s pissed.

WHAT IF THIS IS HELL?

The 1995 hit song released by Joan Osborne: “What if God was one of us?” reminded me of anothe…

(A)theism

Theism, okay —

But not without its flip side

Both is and is not.

Continuing our discussion of addiction and theism, along with atheism, we will focus more tightly on alcohol, as one addiction a…

Addiction

Addiction is real —

Born of body, mouth, and mind;

Not invented here.

In this segment of UnMind we return to a subject — if it can be reduced to a mere “subject” — that I explored publicly ma…

Buddha Nature

Not what we think, but —

We fall into confusion.

Back to the cushion!

We left off last time with a discussion of the relative reality of human, versus corporate, entities — which may seem a…

Human Nature

It’s not what we think.

We must kill to stay alive —

How “humane” is that?

One of the many modern cultural memes that Zen challenges — as well as any unbiased reading of history would, for t…

Your zazen may lead

To a kind of gravitas —

But it’s only Zen.

* * *

“Gravity,” the John Mayer song that won a Grammy in 2005, begins with the lines:

Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bri…

You can analyze

Anything into nothing —

Apt analogy.

* * *

In this segment of UnMind we continue exploring the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen praxis. That last 10-dollar word we may take up in f…

Not symmetrical

But then nothing really is —

Only in our mind

* * *

In this segment of UnMind we continue where we left off, discussing the all-important mentoring relationship of teachers to students, a…

Asymmetrical.

Of necessity it is —

But need not stay so.

* * *

Welcome back to UnMind, the podcast in which we tap into Design Thinking to inform our approach to Zen practice and daily life in modern tim…

Designing Sangha

Sangha is the fruit

Of all of our endeavors —

If harmonious.

* * *

angha is also an operative dynamic of our world. Community already exists; it is just not always very harmonious. Why wo…

Designing Buddha

Buddha was the first

To define design intent —

It hasn’t changed much.

* * *

In the next three segments of UnMind Podcast we will consider the Three Treasures of Buddhism — Buddha, Dharma…

It’s not personal.

But it manifests that way —

Universally.

* * *

As promised in the last segment, we will finish this series of five by taking up the remaining pair of combinations — the intersection of…

All are on the Path,

Though many do not know it.

This Path is no path.

* * *

The focus of this segment, the intersection of the Social Sphere and the Path to Cessation, sounds dangerously close to “socio…

Not unnatural,

Suffering is only change.

It’s not personal.

* * *

Continuing where we left off last time, in this segment we will look at the intersection of the Natural sphere with Buddhism’s Origin of …

Yes, universal!

Existence unlimited

to our perception

* * *

In the last session we concluded the introduction to this summary of the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen by linking Buddha’s Four Noble…

Both solve a problem —

though of differing import.

Zen’s is the broadest.

* * *

In the last session of live dharma dialog online at the Zen center — transcribed as the last podcast in the series on the m…

Final solution —

What if there isn’t any?

Back to the cushion.

* * *

We concluded the last segment on perhaps an overly pessimistic note, that engaging the current spate of daily atrocities through the e…

Be realistic —

Give up your designs on life.

It has its own plan.

* * *

In the last segment we addressed the first few questions that arose from the Zen community regarding the most recent mass shootings…

Inevitable —

Yet so unnecessary!

Enough suffering.

* * *

As mentioned in the first segment of this series, one Sunday at the Zen center we conducted a dialog on the recent school shootings and general dy…

The final lesson.

Cannot postpone forever;

learned now or never.

* * *

Each fifth Sunday, of which there are four per year (unless there is yet another anomaly I do not understand about the common calend…