by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Jan 28, 2012 | Uncategorized, Zen
We all seek approval from others and if we are students of the way it is natural to seek the approval of our teacher. The prerequisite for our teacher’s approval is that we have earned our own approval.
A good teacher will show you how to win your own approval. It requires effort, commitment,determination and sincerity. If that work is done properly your teacher will give you his or her approval, which is a very special kind of empowerment. It is the empowerment of the lineage.
To do this it is often necessary to give up a great deal of self deceit, complacency and self- soothing.
Aside from approval and empowerment when we let go of our pretended self-satisfaction we can really hear the Dharma. We hear it with the whole body and mind. We see it with the the ear. We hear it with the eye.
Then we can manifest with the whole body and mind. With the wind of our own understanding and that of the lineage at our backs we can blow into the Dharma trumpet that is our life with a breath that comes not from the lungs, nor from the abdomen but from our feet.
photo credit: Tom Marcello
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Jan 16, 2012 | Uncategorized, Zen
Every day Master Zuigan Shigen used to call out to himself, “Oh Master!” and would answer himself, “Yes?” “Are you awake?” he would ask, and would answer, “Yes, I am. Never be deceived by others, any day, any time.”
“No, I will not.”
I just taught a workshop on relationship. When I began, I said that the first issue and last would be that it is up to us – to “I”. Not to the other.
We say:
“I take refuge in the Dharma (The teaching). “I” take it .
“I take refuge in the Buddha (In my true nature). “I” take it
“I take refuge in the Sangha (The community) “I” do it.
Being a “master” means the work of mastering oneself. We do not need that word “master” The word “I” works very well.
Who is responsible for our life? Who creates the causes that manifest as effects. “I do.”
Who will create our relationships? Who creates the causes that manifest there? “I do.”
As in a marriage, “I do”
We have the opportunity to take our power back every day, all our life as Zuigan suggests.
Not power over others, power over the self.
Do not be deceived by others.
Do not blame others.
This is the Way.
I take refuge in the Dharma.
This post is dedicated to the memory of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff who was born and certainly was alive after his birth date of January 13th, probably in 1877.
photo credit: David Spender
by Caryn Silberberg | Jan 4, 2012 | Uncategorized, Zen
Join Lost Coin and Doen Sensei in Salt Lake City on Saturday January 14 for an intensive day of practice focusing on relationships with partners, work colleagues, family and friends. Couples are welcome as well as individuals. This is a no-nonsense, inspiring Zen approach to creating harmony in relationship. Further information on the day and how to register is on the homepage of the website as well as this short video, in which Sensei talks about the spirit of the day. http://youtu.be/iSeI5IZRtVs .
photo credit: sarniebill1
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Jan 1, 2012 | Uncategorized, Zen
As we enter the New Year, which I hope is a happy one for everyone, we have completed our first monthly update of the new Lost Coin Study Center. This update contains new videos, audio and conscious art by myself and others in our lineage. We are excited by the potential of The Study Center and hope you will check it out.
I happened upon this poem which was written by the great Zen poet Ryokan and posted on Facebook recently by Joan Halifax, Roshi. She is a teacher in the White Plum Lineage who I respect and admire. Here is the poem. Please consider it a New Year’s gift.
Leave off your mad rush for gold and jewels
I’ve got something far more precious for you:
A bright pearl that shines more brilliantly than the sun and moon
And illuminates each and every eye.
Lose it and you’ll wallow in a sea of pain;
Find it and you’ll safely reach the other shore.
I’d freely present this treasure to anyone
But hardly any one asks for it
photo credit: Harpagornis ~away~
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Dec 27, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
When we are children we instinctively know how to wish with our whole body, heart and soul. As adults, we use more sophisticated terms for the word “wish”. We talk about aspiration, following our passion, priorities, aim. Around this time of year we speak about New Year’s resolutions.
A question that comes up often from my students is “How do I do this thing that I want to do? How do I make sure that I do this practice? How do I make this change in my life or attain this desire?” The reason it becomes a question at all is because we look in our analytical mind, our intellectual center for the answers that reside in the gut, in the area of will. Wishing is directing the will toward a particular aim. We can learn to wish consciously. Conscious wishing is a practice. It is the practice of clearly understanding and pursuing an aim.
How do we become more courageous, how do we make our relationships more harmonious, how do we achieve excellence in our pursuits?
We need to utilize that elemental quality that resides in the pit of our stomach and consiously and deeply wish. In short, I am saying we need to wish for something consciously and strongly when we want it. This is true in very small, simple things like getting up in the morning to sit and in the profound issues of our lives. There is no tricky, analytical method to circumvent the development of will. It is done by wishing, by willing it so.
In the end, I believe that wishes are trails and it is enough to cultivate our spirit and walk these trails. This is the path of a true warrior and the trail is called “the way”.
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Dec 27, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
When we are children we instinctively know how to wish with our whole body, heart and soul. As adults, we use more sophisticated terms for the word “wish”. We talk about aspiration, following our passion, priorities, aim. Around this time of year we speak about New Year’s resolutions.
A question that comes up often from my students is “How do I do this thing that I want to do? How do I make sure that I do this practice? How do I make this change in my life or attain this desire?” The reason it becomes a question at all is because we look in our analytical mind, our intellectual center for the answers that reside in the gut, in the area of will. Wishing is directing the will toward a particular aim. We can learn to wish consciously. Conscious wishing is a practice. It is the practice of clearly understanding and pursuing an aim.
How do we become more courageous, how do we make our relationships more harmonious, how do we achieve excellence in our pursuits?
We need to utilize that elemental quality that resides in the pit of our stomach and consiously and deeply wish. In short, I am saying we need to wish for something consciously and strongly when we want it. This is true in very small, simple things like getting up in the morning to sit and in the profound issues of our lives. There is no tricky, analytical method to circumvent the development of will. It is done by wishing, by willing it so.
In the end, I believe that wishes are trails and it is enough to cultivate our spirit and walk these trails. This is the path of a true warrior and the trail is called “the way”.
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Dec 17, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
We are stuck in an idea of who we are. Our true nature, the lost coin, is very close – always there.
It is closer than everything we experience, closer than our blood and bones, closer than our thoughts.
Our thoughts block the way.
In daily life we study the self. We call this study mechanics. We investigate the habitual positions we cling to.
What would be if we weren’t stuck in the self?
What would we do if we weren’t stuck in our positions?
photo credit: spettacolopuro
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Dec 11, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
Historically, the practice of Zen, occurred in a monastic setting. Monastic practice was a powerful vehicle but today most of us do not have the time or the inclination to practice that way.
We certainly do not want our contemporary practice, the one we are establishing in the West, to be a watered down version of the old one. I don’t think that will happen because we understand things about practice that were previously overlooked. Two important aspects that were overlooked were the true state of our emotions and the matrix of our daily lives. We now have tools the ancients did not. With the aid of psychology and science we can, in fact, look forward to a renaissance. This is what Lost Coin is about.
It is easy to focus on our understanding and avoid looking at our emotions while they run rampant and have negative effects on those around us and the practice itself.
Personally I have seen far too much of that as a student, as a teacher and as a psychotherapist.
We can end the division of our life into the practice and the personal.
The Lost Coin Study Center which has just been established is a step toward this future. Though we sit (do Zazan) and meet in study groups, we need reminders and the equivalent of food (impressions,inspiration) to continue our practice. The Center allows us to get further nourishment when we need it , and does not require physical proximity as the monastery did. This is also true when I do “skype-san” (daisan/interview) on the internet with students who are across the nation or even across the ocean. As commerce now is able to transcend the “brick and mortar”, Lost Coin is in the process of transcending monastic walls and flesh and bones.
We need to evolve. It is not enough to chant about atoning for greed, anger and ignorance . We need a living practice to develop and let go of destructive emotions including fear, which makes us sometimes timid but often predatory and narcissistic.
We can develop an intelligent, loving and pragmatic practice.We can, as they say in video games, level up. There have been holes in our practice. We are going to change that.
photo credit: telmo32
![Launching the Study Center]()
by Caryn Silberberg | Nov 30, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
We are excited to announce the official opening of The Lost Coin Study Center.
To start, there are 12 videos by Doen Sensei in three basic areas of practice: Mechanics, Training and Realization. We have also included a Musica section with three specially chosen musical pieces for study which address conscious art. New material by Sensei and other teachers in the form of videos, written material, conscious music and Zen art will be added each month. It is our aim to create a unique archive of the highest quality for serious students of the Way.
Have a look at the interview with Doen Sensei about the Study Center on the Lost Coin website. Subscriptions are available on the site for $14.99 per month via Paypal. To sign up visit http://study.lostcoinzen.com/signup/
by Daniel Doen Silberberg | Nov 26, 2011 | Uncategorized, Zen
He who is born in the Snow Country,
Free from worldly taints,
Blessed by the Succession of Naropa
The wondrous one who has conquered pain
and trials
The cure, the supreme remedy
For the ills of sentient beings,
Revered by all like sun and moon,
He is the Holy One, the famous Mila.
I bow to him, the father Repa, with great veneration.
The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
Who are we talking about here? It is you, everyone one of you reading this song. The song is about you, the traveler of the way.
We lose our way and the most common detour leads to our heads. It is understandable because it is the way we have been taught to navigate our lives. It is an imporatant aspect of our self but it is often timid and powerless.We have a deeper, magical and more potent well from which to draw.
We can talk about this as the difference between “knowledge” and “being.” Knowledge is what we know and how we process, analyze, and use it. “Being” is who we are which is manifested in what we do. In practice and teaching this is the heart of the matter. The Dharma Lion’s roar. Who am I really? How do I act in my life? Do I really practice with my life? Being is and has always been the truth of our practice.
May we all attain that which is in us – the great courage of the Dharma, the great courage of being.
I bow with great gratitude to the great Dharma hero, Milarepa.
photo credit: dynamosquito
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