Spent a little time today just doing some small chores at our local temple. The simple joy of moving small pieces of wood from one place to another in preparation for Winter, Staging some of the wood for next Winter and moving some of it further away from other wood in case of fire before the rainy season starts. Simple basic things that are as old as humans gathering together for their common good. Then a rest and a snack and conversation with no great subject or intention, but touching on the the things that in fact do form and inform us in regard to our common good, common experience, common goals, common dreams and common hopes and the wonder at all that it is to be human.

Later, coming back to my space of living and having other discussions with neighbor- friends while watching a group of chickens scratching around in the garden and a couple of horse corrals, knowing that some of these lovely little beings will soon be given the axe for a number of reasons/necessities that create great conflict within their owner. A painful and very uneasy choice, a difficult decision that will have to be integrated into the owners life as it continues for another day (or 50 years), who knows? Thus an uncomfortable question comes in and may not go, and we wonder why we have discomfort and varying levels of anxiety that we can’t identify as to source or sometimes are even aware of.

The pain of life is real. The joy of life is real,

To the degree we let them control our next decision(s).

All the billions of difficult decisions made every day;

Day in. Day out. For as many days as there are or ever

Have been and lives that lived them. We act, react and err,

Then reach out to each other in an attempt to comprehend,

Through our words, feelings, stumbling, and unknowing; How

To grow this pain of life into love and understanding of our

Selves. This is the great quest.

The condition of human

Kindness.  All  ways  there.

The distinct aroma of the Autumn is already apparent in this Inland Northwest area. I was gone three days visiting further North and in three days the foliage in this area of high plateau surrounded by 8,000+ foot(feet?) high mountains, was changing. We’re in that time of year with the rapid shortening of the days (2-3 minutes less daylight each day), for a while, which then levels out for the Equinox, then  plummets for another while, and then, finally, my favorite day of the year; the first day of Winter and days start getting longer again.

The original meaning of the word journey had to do with the travels of the Sun across the sky. Every morning the Sun was released from the captive grip of darkness and travelled on only to return to its captor the God of darkness. Maybe the original Good news/Bad news scenario as it was played out by the Gods of Greek and Roman myth.

In any case, the word addresses several formulations of thought, belief and actuality.

Each day begins anew , yet returns to its source.

It, the day, begins in the East and ends in the West;

Constant movement that even to the most

Unsophisticated observer had to induce a 

Sense of circle or cycle. Continuity.  All is one, and yet,

All is different.  The Sun rises and we may see this

Yet, we may not see it set. It moves, we may not stay.

We may see it set, but never again see it rise.

We move, it stays.

Did the sense of time begin while waiting in

A tree for daylight to arise and the wolves below to dis-

Appear? In the journey we get both closer and

Farther, to and from, the place we’re going and by

Which we come. Each days’ evil is sufficient

There onto, and the good we do lives on.

Walk,

Care fully!

In the past when I had a more stable home life ( more fixed in place and circumstance), we had a family altar whereupon I had glass candles fueled by paraffin based oil and with woven wicks . The oil was pulled to the top of the wick by fire. The oil, the wick, the fire work in conjunction to produce one effect; a flame and consequently light.

Today on the same altar in my temp setting of a small cabin on a horse ranch, I have fake candles run by batteries, and LED lights that flicker. Because of safety concerns I don’t want to use open flames with a liquid fuel source in easily breakable vessels as part of my expression of religious practice. In this case the battery can be switched to “On”, “Off” or the “Timer” which shuts off the lights after four hours. Very safe and the batteries last a really long time. After my evening meditation the lamps stay lit as I go to sleep and offer a nice background for my nightly wish to be in meditation. As I retire I ask for help for the benefit of all beings, which includes me.

The candles of either kind are a good example of the use of images, statues, phrases, altars, wall hangings, objects and such, in religious practice.* Their purpose is just to serve as reminders of basic teachings; irrespective of what the religion is, they are handy tools for ones “profession”. In the case of the candles they teach me that for anything to occur there has to be a cause and from all cause there arise consequences.

There is usually a combination of things for a consequence to occur.

In the case of a candle there has to be fuel (battery or liquid), ignition (flame or “on” switch), and supply channel (wick or electrical wiring), and there has to be an active participant in bringing these three independent conditions into operation.

Cause and effect. Karma.

The conditions as they separately exist (fuel, vessel, wick) are just that they depend on an outside force (me), to produce an effect of their combination.

A light on an altar in a small cabin is the result. If some of the conditions are altered slightly, then the potential effects can also include a fire in a wooden cabin, on a dry grass prairie, near a huge forest.

Open flame.

Tiny lightbulb.

Choices.

Those candles remind me that I have a huge array (infinite at times), of choices of how I go about conducting my life. Seeing the influence I have on the conditions of my life and the results brought about by my acting on, or not, the combination of conditions in front of me at any given time. Heady stuff indeed.

Slowly, very it seems, through this practice; I become more contained.

*Below from the “Questions of King Milinda”

“The king asked: “Venerable Nagasena, is it so that one does not transmigrate and [yet] one is reborn?”

“Yes, your majesty, one does not transmigrate and one is reborn.”

“How, venerable Nagasena, is it that one does not transmigrate and one is reborn? Give me an analogy.”

“Just as, your majesty, if someone kindled one lamp from another, is it indeed so, your majesty, that the lamp would transmigrate from the other lamp?”

“Certainly not, venerable sir.”

“Indeed just so, your majesty, one does not transmigrate and one is reborn.”

Time to start thinking seriously about starting in on a pile of firewood, chopping and stacking is in order; it was very brisk this morning. One of the things I like about this region is that at some point in middle August the first big hint of Autumn is literally in the air. Lots of things need to be organized, in a few days I’m going north to St. Maries, ID to attend a Renewal of Vows ceremony with the sangha from Sandpoint and other parts of Idaho Panhandle.

That ceremony is just as the name indicates. The Vows are those of the Taking of the Precepts at Jukai, a weeklong retreat with 5 ceremonies that culminate in a lay person’s formally vowing to try one’s best to live through the guidance of the Precepts,  and the Ordination vows of the monks.

It’s a time to look carefully at how one is doing with the Precepts in one’s daily life. That can be and, perhaps should be, discomfiting when one sees where improvements can be made either by seeing some habits that are unhelpful for the first time or, for the 5,000th time. Habits that need some attention or change of outlook, or restraint and refraining from indulging in some thoughts, speech and actions.

My definition of unhelpful is any mode of thought, behavior or activity, that causes  separation from oneself and other beings, or from that which I sense to be at the Heart of All.

In the monasteries the monks do this ceremony every two weeks!

I was so glad to hear that, because it seemed to bring into perspective that the training done by either lay people or monks is very difficult. It may appear different in circumstance but it is the same for all classes of Buddhist (Female and male monks, and female and male laypeople, in no order of hierarchy), trainees/practitioners. If this Zen Buddhist activity were easy, if any deep spiritual searching were easy, there would be standing room only at all places where meditation is practiced.

That is not the case though, because many good-hearted people approach religious practice with good intentions, it’s very difficult to sustain the effort. Our energies get diverted in a variety of ways, and it’s natural to stop doing things that don’t have a fairly quick result to show for effort.

Oh, well. Human beans.

I’ve had my own struggles with consistency in my practice and will have them again. That is not a problem, because I can start afresh every day.

Nothing is lost when I start afresh, 

A journey is not hindered because

I rest and gather my self in.

Look at the map and directions, 

Re-pack my load, discard the

Unnecessary; wait for the storm to

Clear and, just get up, and go. Again.

Below is one formulation of the Precepts that I like…