Dharma Winds Zen Sangha/Order Zen de HsuYun (DWZS/OZHY) is a European Zen Priory of a community of French speaking group of hermitages whoes members are recognized as affiliated with OEB as established in the transmitting bond between Venerable Rev. Shi Yao Xin and Venerable Rev. David Shen-Xi Astor Sensei as Dharma brothers.
DWZS/OZHY is firstly an official ordination platform of the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun – ZBOHY (zatma.org) in Europe.
The Linji/YunMen Chan Lineage of Grand Master HsuYun and Fo Yuan Shakya, through the masters of the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun (founded by Venerable Jy Din Shakya), is the Primary Lineage of DWZS/OZHY, in which all Shi Yao Xin’s fully ordained Zen Priests are ordained.
in addition, a Zen/Ch’an Lineage affiliation is honered through the relationship Ven. Ryugen Fisher Sensei as Dharma Heir of both Soyu Matsuoka Roshi and Holmes Welch Sensei has in the root lineage of the Prior General of OEB, Venerable Rev. Shi Shen-Xi through his root teacher Venerable Eubanks Sensei, and as such, an honorary Lineage of DWZS/OZHY in which all DWZS novices (priests in training or Yunshui) recognize during their ordination. This honorary relationship was created when Shi Shen-Xi of OEB and Shi Yao Xin of DWZS recognized eachother as Dharma Holders in their respective Orders through a transmission ceremony held in 2016.
While this unique recognition between these two ancient Zen linages is not a binding form of lineage Dharma Transmission as such, it is however, to honor the actions enacted between OEB and DWZS’s leadership that did join them individually and in unity of ideals as Dharma brothers.
1) In order to have a motivated practice, is it also necessary to have goals? If goals are desirable, doesn’t this conflict with the Buddhist thought of “just keep your mind in the moment”?
Setting goals & living in the moment. Living in the moment and setting goals. To one seeking a mature practice on the Buddhist Path this can create quite the paradox. How can I live in the moment if I set goals? Wouldn’t goals be a form of clinging and clinging is bad, correct? How do goals and a spiritual practice co-exist? These dilemmas are enough to drive even the most adherent follower a little batty. One of the worst mistakes we can have is to not set goals. What if you had an appointment somewhere you were unfamiliar with and all you had was the address. You could drive around for infinity in search of the address. But instead we have maps, and now a days GPS navigation systems to help guide us to our destination. Setting goals is the same thing. If we don’t have any sense of direction in our practice how are we going to find our way? They become a guide to help us achieve within our practice.
But what of this idea of “living in the moment”? I think this metaphor is often misapplied and misunderstood among Buddhists. How can we be elsewhere and also be someplace else in the present moment? When we start thinking about the past or the future we are distracted from the present. We have lost our mindfulness. This brings about feelings of unsatisfactoriness, and worry or fears. We are no longer aware of the present activity because we are off someplace else engaged with unhelpful thoughts, absorbed with something that may happen or something that has happened and we can no longer change.
So setting goals does not conflict with being in the present because we can mindfully think about the future as well as the past. We are aware of the events weather past or future that were thinking about, and these can become the basis for our practice goals. But by being aware we are not captive to these thoughts, and if they give rise to something unsatisfactory we can take steps to correct that because we are in the present moment.
2) Is there an element of goal setting that is key to success other than as a focus mechanism?
When setting goals we must remain aware that everything in the universe is subject to change. We must remember that what the situation is today that is leading us to set a goal is impermanent and will not be the situation further down the road. By embracing impermanence we can set goals and not find ourselves becoming downtrodden when those goals become unattainable due to circumstances beyond our control. Being mindful of the causal nature of the universe we do not see our goals as something to expect but rather as something that represents a direction in which we want to go rather than something to be achieved.
Furthermore a second element that is a key to success when setting goals is action. In order for a goal to work we must act in order for the goal to become reality. If we remember R2A2 (Recognize, relate, assimilate, act) and apply that to the objective we are trying to accomplish through setting a goal, we chart a proper course of action to not only reach our goals, but using R2A2 to also check if the goal is still valid based on how the situation or objective has changed over a period of time. It gives us a chance to correct a course of action instead of feeling frustrated or disappointed when we might not reach the original goal.
3) What is meant by Fred Kennedy’s quote, “There are no random or unintended behavior”?
What Fred Kennedy is trying to articulate is that something cannot happen out of nothing. Our behavior arises from our wants and desires as well as the situations that confront us. There is a term often used in Christian as well as other circles of Random Acts of Kindness. Where people are encouraged to commit random acts of goodwill. But these are not really random at all, because one is already of the mindset to do these acts, they are just waiting for the right situation. There is always a cause to one’s behavior, weather we realize that cause or not.
From a Buddhist point of view we can bring Karma into the discussion. While we often think about Karma in relation to an action or the consequences of an action Karma lies in the intent as well. Everything is subject to Karmic law of cause and effect, our words, actions and even our thoughts all become a cause. Look at your everyday life. You get a thought an idea in your head, and ten you might verbalize the idea of maybe you go straight into acting on the idea and so on and so forth. Because of this Karmic principal it negates the idea that random behavior can occur. The reality is that the consequences of our actions or behaviors started based on our thoughts and intent before the actual action took place.
4) Where would you put or find motivated behavior within the Four Noble Truths?
We find motivated behavior throughout the Four Noble Truths. No one steps on the Buddhist path without some type of suffering or unsatisfactoriness in their life. Thus leading them to the First truth as a confirmation that unsatisfactoriness exists. Motivated behavior continues as one wants to know the what and how can I overcome this and what are the steps to achieve it? Buddhism as compared to Christianity requires one to do the work his or herself compared to just “putting it in God’s in basket” as I like to say and hoping that things will be ok because God will fix it. Buddhism does not have a deity that we can fill an in basket of, so we have to be motivated by the desire to want to seek our own answers and to know ourselves better so we can relieve the unsatisfactoriness in our lives.
5) Does the idea of motivation play any part in Social-Justice considerations?
Certainly motivation plays a part in Social Justice considerations. Compassion towards others is not a basic inherent human personality trait. Compassion takes a conscious effort from an individual. Society is geared towards the “I”. We reward and praise those who achieve success for themselves. For example If you were to go ask most people today if they know who Kim Kardashian is, the vast majority would say yes they know her. Ask the same people if they know who Mother Teresa was and you would more than likely find that less know who she was or what she was known for. The majority of people do not see Self and Others as interconnected and interdependent. Instead they see Self and impediments to what that self wants. There has to be a motivation to change ones thinking and develop compassion through self change. By cultivating the six perfections in ones life we can begin to see others through the lens of compassion.
The other area where motivation plays a part in Social-Justice is the situation we find ourselves confronted with. Each situation we are confronted with is going to be different then the previous one, so we must use wisdom to guide us in making sure our motivation is not misplaced according to the situation at hand.
Submitted by: Jin-Deng
Excellent points Jin-Deng. Big bow _/\_
1) In order to have a motivated practice, is it also necessary to have goals? If goals are desirable, doesn’t this conflict with the Buddhist thought of “just keep your mind in the moment”?
We cannot separate ourselves from our goals – they are an intrinsic part of our make-up. So to me, the key word in this question is “motivated”. This suggests a keen interest that promotes perseverance toward the attainment of a goal. Thus, if one is has a “motivated” practice, the goal is the means by which one practices. There is no difference between one’s goal and one’s self – they are one and the same. But does this conflict with the Buddhist notion of “Mindfulness”?
We are aware that Mindfulness is one element of the Eightfold Path and one of it’s features is to bring awareness to one’s present situation. This awareness would not conflict with having goals because we are our goals (see above paragraph) and so having an awareness of the actions that result from those goals is simply being aware of one’s present experience. We are our living experience (skandhas) – we are our goals. Goals are neither desirable or undesirable. They simply exist within the moment of our experience.
2) Is there an element of goal setting that is key to success other than as a focus mechanism?
During the Apollo 8 Moon Shot, the rocket is said to have been off-course about 80% of the entire flight. The astronauts aimed the craft and then made continuous adjustments to the course; if they veered too far left, they’d correct toward the right. Too far right? They’d steer left. The point is that they knew if they kept aiming and correcting, they would eventually hit the target. They intended to land on the moon, and they did. This is the same element of goal setting that leads us to success – our intention to succeed. That is why we course-correct, why we monitor our progress. If we didn’t expect to succeed, there would be no motivation to even make the attempt in the first place!
3) What is meant by Fred Kennedy’s quote, “There are no random or unintended behaviour”?
This is representative of people (us) fully engaged in the first truth – the unsatisfactoriness of life. We either are so distracted that we aren’t aware of our motivations, or we don’t want to admit our reasons for action. Our pain is so great that we relentlessly pursue satisfaction in a blind frenzy – distraction. But why would we not want to admit our true motivations? Perhaps we can’t face the truth of our motivations (more pain in our lives) or perhaps we know that admission of our true motivations would remove the excuse of our behaviour. Or there could be any number of other possibilities. But it comes down to being immersed in dukkha – and our own inability to recognize and understand it.
4) Where would you put or find motivated behaviour within the Four Noble Truths?
The third and fourth truths are the truths of Cessation and the Path. This is the area where motivated behaviour occurs; recognizing that cessation is possible (the third truth) and then moving along the path (the fourth truth) to implement change. We are motivated to change our habitual behavioural patterns in order to realize the cessation of the third truth. It is the motivation to change perspectives that allows us to explore and experience the fourth truth.
5) Does the idea of motivation play any part in Social-Justice considerations?
When we begin to experience the change in our lives that Fourth Truth brings us, we understand the need to extend compassion to everyone and this becomes the foundation for all of our interactions. The story of Indra’s Net reminds us that we are all intricately interconnected to each other and thus our actions must necessarily be guided by this principle of interconnectivity. When the Net is weak, so am I because I rely upon all things within its purview – to bolster others is to bolster myself; to allow others harm is to allow harm to myself.
This, it seems to me, is the essence of Appropriate Action (Conduct). It’s so much more than just not killing, stealing or avoiding sexual misconduct! It is compassionate concern for others. This may be best achieved by the blurring of subject and object; placing ourselves (the subject) in the other person’s situation allows us to clearly understand the causes and conditions with which the other (the object) is contending. How could we not act in the most appropriate manner possible when we understand that another’s person’s conditionality could so easily be my own?
You have given us some thoughts on goals that we have not considered yet. Thank you for this perspective, I will take some time for consideration before I share my own mind with you. Another excellent start. I bow to your practice /\
DXA