The Ten Fields of Zen:

I discuss the nature of practice and what it means to make “progress” on the path of practice. I then introduce the Ten Fields. Read/listen here.

Bodhicitta is the “mind (citta) of enlightenment (bodhi)” or the “Way-Seeking Mind.” Without Bodhicitta we never even begin practice, and if we don’t nurture and sustain Way-Seeking Mind, our practice will wither and die. Buddhism is based on seeking – seeking freedom from suffering, greater wisdom and compassion, greater skillfulness in benefiting beings, and a more authentic, connected way of being. Arousing and sustaining Bodhicitta in turn generates questions, curiosity, energy, and determination. This is turning toward and honoring our Great Doubt. Read/listen here.

“Za” means seated, and “zen” means meditation. However, as 13th-century Zen master Dogen famously stated, “…Zazen is not meditation practice.” Superficially, our Zazen may look like the meditation done in other spiritual traditions, or even in secular settings. We even call Zazen “meditation” sometimes, for convenience. However, Zazen is not meditation in the sense of a mental exercise aimed at a particular result. Zazen is our total response to life. It is the essence and enactment of our entire Zen practice. Read/listen here.

Mindfulness is cultivating clear awareness of what is happening, moment by moment, within you and around you. Mindfulness is absolutely fundamental to Zen practice, allowing you to practice within all the other Fields. Without awareness, you can’t live your life by choice instead of by karma. In addition, Zen emphasizes that there is no activity too mundane to do with care, and nothing we encounter is unworthy of our attention and respect. We cultivate gratitude, respect, and appreciation, and vow to live by choice instead of on autopilot. Read/listen here.

Dharma Study is becoming familiar with and investigating Buddhist teachings. The texts and teachings in Buddhism include tools we can use for practice and inspirational guidance for our behavior, but the most critical part of Dharma Study is challenging the ideas and views we already hold, not acquiring new ones. The teachings describe Reality-with-a-Capital-R and invite us to investigate and verify the truth for ourselves. We don’t seek to acquire insight into Reality for its own sake, but because it is liberating and transformative. Read/listen here.

The Buddhist Precepts guide our ethical conduct, ensuring we minimize the harm we do to self and others. Such conduct is a prerequisite for the peace of mind we need for spiritual practice. The precepts also serve as valuable tools for studying the self; when we are tempted to break them, it alerts us to our self-attachment and reveals our persistent delusion of self as a separate and inherently-existing entity. Keeping the precepts familiarizes us with acting as if the self is empty of inherent existence. Read/listen here.

Working explicitly to Open Your Heart not only benefits other living beings, it puts you in accord with the Dharma and supports all other aspects of your practice. You work on radical self-acceptance to make Awakening and compassion possible. You work on real and personal relationships with other beings – overcoming your social fears, becoming more willing to be seen and known, learning to be authentic, and recognizing the Buddha-Nature manifested in others. Ultimately, self and other are not separate; in practice, you seek to manifest and realize this simultaneously. Read/listen here.

Ultimately, if you want to experience Realization and have it transform your life, you need to commit yourself to Learning the Self. This means becoming intimately familiar with your self – your mind and your body. A lifetime path of practice becomes deeply personal, asking you to face your Karma, take responsibility for it, and use it to find your gateway into awakening. This isn’t just about transforming yourself into a Buddha through your Zen practice, it’s about awakening to how your very body – your unique, imperfect, human manifestation – is Buddha. Read/listen here.

Realization is gaining a direct, personal experience of the truth. Realization helps you respond appropriately, allowing you to live by choice instead of by karma. Even more importantly, it gives you a larger perspective that can result in equanimity, even joy. There are different levels of truth, and the Dharma – Reality-with-a-Capital-R – is the biggest truth of all. Fortunately, it is a wonderful and liberating truth to wake up to. However, it’s important to understand that there is no “Realization” you can attain that means you know everything. The truth is infinite and there is always more to awaken to and embody. Read/listen here.

Bodhisattva Activity is enacting vows to free all beings as well as yourself. The Bodhisattva Vows are an acknowledgment that you are interdependent with all beings and things, and such an aspiration can give a sense of purpose and direction to your whole life. Of course, it’s impossible to fulfill this vow literally, and when you try to put it into action it is no easy matter! It requires tangible engagement with the world, including other people. If you hide out in comfort, you’re unlikely to transcend self-centeredness. If you rely only on your own resources, you’re likely to exhaust yourself and limit your impact. How do you even decide what Bodhisattva Activity to undertake? There is much to be learned by practicing in this Field of Zen, which inoculates you against the delusion that you can attain true peace of mind by ignoring the suffering of others. Read/listen here.

Connecting with the Ineffable is perhaps the most subtle but inspiring aspect of practice. Zen is not based on a belief in God in a theistic sense, but at its core there is a strong emphasis on a much more profound, inspiring, significant, and hopeful Reality than the bleak, mundane, and discouraging one people sometimes experience in their ordinary daily lives. Call this “greater reality” anything you like – God, the Divine, That Which is Greater, Other Power, the Ineffable, the Great Mystery, the Great Matter of Life and Death – but you have tasted it at peak moments of your life. Zen encourages you to explore and deepen your relationship with the Great Matter. Read/listen here.