Mondo Zen Blog

A Heart Blown Open

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:22:00 GMT

A Heart Blown Open: The Life and Practice of Zen Master Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi ~ A Spiritual Biography by Keith Martin-Smith

Emotional Freedom for the Modern Seeker
An Ancient Science of Mind Receives an Upgrade

“This is the story of our time... an absolute must-read for
anyone with even a passing interest in human evolution...”
— Ken Wilber, author of Integral Spirituality

"This is the legendary story of an inspiring teacher that
mirrors the journey of many contemporary Western seekers.”
— Alex Grey, artist and author of Transfigurations

DENIS KELLY'S LIFE IS PART HUNTER S. THOMPSON, PART TIMOTHY LEARY, AND PART ECKHART TOLLE.

Mondo Zen, an updated form of Rinzai Zen (the “Zen of the Samurai”), was developed by Denis Kelly, whose Dharma name (spiritual name) is Jun Po Roshi. This is the story of his life, and how he worked to integrate the hard-won wisdom of a life of playfulness, depravity, loss, and liberating insight, leading to the creation of what what has been called the single greatest innovation in Zen in the last 500 years.

Go to Divine Arts

A Nondual View of the Emotional Body

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:51:00 GMT

Contributors: Jun Po Kelly Roshi, Reverend Doshin Hannya, Daju Huihai Suzanne Friedman and Keith Martin-Smith

Therapy and emotional processing can provide new perspectives on cultural conditioning and promote a healthier ego. Spiritual practices such as Zazen and Dzogchen gradually awaken us to the illusion of permanent self. This raises an important question: What does our emotional body look like when viewed from shunyata, or Nondual Awareness? Join Jun Po and Doshin Roshi in this lively discussion on the emotional body as seen by the viewless view of Nondual Awareness.

A Letter from the Air Force Academy Buddhist Program Leader

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:02:00 GMT

THE CADET CHAPEL BUDDHIST PROGRAM
AT THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY
2010-2011 - A progress report

It’s 1900 on a Friday evening in Jack’s Valley. It’s been a 90+ degree day. Cadets in Basic Training have been running the Assault Course, the Obstacle Course, and others, and they have had people in their faces, yelling, since very early morning. They are tired. Fifteen of them come walking up the dirt road to the tent that serves as the Buddhist Chapel in the camp. A tarp is spread over the concrete floor, and this evening there are just enough cushions for two leaders and the 15 cadets who take off their boots and packs at the entry. Several approach the altar to offer incense. Rays from the low sun stream the length of the tent, and suffuse the quiet that takes hold immediately. We sing refuge: “I take refuge in Awakening; I take refuge in the Way; I take refuge in my Companions.”

Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are present. After 20 minutes of meditation, with just a few words dropped into the silence, a leader introduces walking meditation: see what it’s like if you walk as one body. And they do. There’s some time for discussion, and immediately the power of the meditation itself is spoken. One speaks of the sense that “everything belongs.” Another says he was suddenly keenly aware of connection: a sensation that he and everything else are connected. Someone expresses awe at the countless phenomena that appear in each moment---the largeness and largesse of each instant. One cadet speaks of the intimacy of sound during the meditation. One woman speaks of how hard it was not to have service last Sunday, when violent storms caused a cancellation.

At the end of our time, one quiet voice says, “It’s hard to leave here and go back out there.” And yet, there’s a keen awareness that leaving here and going back out there, taking this light and stillness with you, is exactly the practice. We sing Boundless Vows, hand out pocket editions of the Dhammapada, and close. As boots are laced up, one young man takes me aside and asks if it’s okay for someone from another faith tradition to attend regularly during the academic year. We speak of the many teachers and practitioners of Buddhism who are Christian, or Jewish, or other.

Once the academic year begins, it’s much harder for cadets to keep attending on a regular basis. During the 2010-2011 academic year our numbers have once again been small for regular weekly services (over-all average of 6 or so). At the same time, the sangha continues to mature and develop.

The regular schedule that has evolved is this - SPIRE (Special Programs in Religious Education) meets on Monday evenings:

These meetings include some time for meditation and then discussion of a reading, or a talk by a visiting teacher. This year, for example, we had talks by the following:

Dr. Victor Bradford, a Vipassana teacher who is a retired Air Force dentist.
Ellie Coriell, a teacher of Qigong
Dr. Dave Levy, a professor at USAFA who is also a very skilled leader of Big Mind workshops, and who offers several annually for cadets
Chaplain Darlene Avery, our SPIRE volunteer leader, a Christian who is very thoroughly engaged with Buddhist practice, and her husband, Chaplain Derek Krehbiel, who led discussion of Sacred Hoops.
Andrew Palmer, Sensei, from Springs Mountain Sangha

Cadets were also invited to attend Monday evening talks in Colorado Springs by Joan Sutherland, Roshi and by Richard Baker, Roshi

Meditation and Dharma Talk on Thursday evening:

Starting with the second semester of this year, the cadet Schedule of Calls changed, allowing us to hold our second service of the week on Thursday evening, a night with far fewer scheduling conflicts and homework assignments than our previous Wednesday evening time. This change was very helpful. It may have come about in part because our Cadet in Charge spoke up very assertively in a Religious Respect conference about the need for some protected time for Buddhist services. Hi Fu Roshi has generously met with the group when he has been in town, offering talks and discussion with cadets.

Sunday morning services:

Every Sunday we hold a 10:00 service that includes one period of meditation, a sutra service, and then time for a brief talk and discussion, often over brunch. This is the most formal service of the week. As one might expect, some cadets prefer this and some prefer the simpler evening services. Visitors and members of the wider community come to both the Thursday and Sunday services, but more often Sunday. The addition of this service seems to have been a good idea, and we will continue it. Two cadets are now able to lead sutra services, and this year we will add two more.

Ceremonies and Celebrations:

This year, we held more additional gatherings than we have done in the
past.

      On August 24, a Tuesday, we held a service for Ullambana (sometimes called
      Parents’ Day or Ancestor Day), with 14 attending.

      December 8 we held a Rohatsu Ceremony and dinner, with 15 attending.

      May 17 we held a Wesak service and dinner, with 23 attending.

      We also held a Baccalaureate service this year, with 11 attending.

Other Gatherings:

In the Fall of this year, all fourteen cadets listed as Buddhist were invited to attend a dinner to discuss their needs and how the Buddhist Program might best support their religious practice. Nine people attended; four of these were among the listed Buddhist cadets.

In September we hiked up Stanley Canyon to a nearby reservoir, held a sutra service and had breakfast up there and then hiked down.

In April, twelve of us attended the Hanamatsuri service at the Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple (Jodo Shinshu), and then had lunch together.

We also held a number of simply social gatherings, for community building.

Three Retreats:

September 24-26 we held a Doolie retreat in the mountains. This included some introduction to meditation and Buddhist practice, but also a lot of time for the new cadets to form as a community. Eleven attended, and among those, seven ethnic groups were represented!

January 29-30 we held a meditation retreat, which was small (7) but let the cadets begin to have the experience of a longer stretch of meditation.

March 4-6 nine of us held a meditation retreat in the Black Forest, fully silent and with Oryoki meals. This was our strongest sesshin yet. The cadets participated fully and sat very strongly. Major Stuart Lloyd, an active duty Air Force member who used to teach at the Academy, came to serve as Head of Practice, and Darlene Avery served as Tenzo.

Other events and service:

Last Spring, in May of 2010, I performed the wedding of two former cadets, in Kansas City, MO. In the Fall, one of them was deployed to Afghanistan. His friend made him a camouflage rakusu (he had previously taken refuge). I took it with me to my Rohatsu sesshin and wrote on it, and then we sent it to him. He is one of several graduates who have written very moving notes about the importance of their meditation practice and continued study during their deployments. One cadet, who when she left the Academy found her spiritual home in the Catholicism of her family, wrote from Iraq asking for readings, instruction and support for starting a small meditation group there.

In January, 2011 I was asked to speak on a three-person interfaith panel in the OASIS (fellowship lounge operated by Chapel Staff) on the topic, “What is the source of your values in your religious tradition?”

In February, I gave a reading (Shantideva’s Prayer) at a National Prayer Luncheon.

In May of 2011, I gave the invocation for the retirement ceremony of a Master Sergeant, a member of our sangha.

I have not been able to establish regular “office hours,” but have frequently done some individual spiritual direction in the evenings, after our services.

Occasionally a cadet or two will come home with me for Sunday afternoon, just to have some time away.

I am unable to attend every Chapel Staff meeting, but I do get to at least half of them, and keep developing a better understanding of the way things work at the Academy.

The Dharma Hall Itself

The Dharma Hall, a Buddhist Chapel within the Cadet Chapel, is itself an important presence. Cadets do come to sit, and sometimes to leave dedications on the altar. Thousands of tourists come through, and it’s very interesting to be around when they are there. Many are just curious, but some come in to sit, ask for some instruction or discussion, leave dedications, and sometimes ask for a prayer. Most seem to be touched by the beauty, warmth and calm of the Hall, and by the presence of so many faiths in one building.

Our library is still very small, but each year there are a couple of cadets or recent grads who seem to go through it, reading almost every book we have.

The Cadet Interfaith Council

Two Buddhist cadets are representatives to the Cadet Interfaith Council. The Council is becoming more and more a meaningful body, and our two Buddhist cadets have done a lot to increase awareness of our presence at the Academy. This year, one of them plans to coordinate a weekly service day. That’s an ambitious project, because Saturday afternoon is generally the only time cadets have to go off campus and volunteer, and calls on their time are many and heavy. But if she can manage to put together 3 such days per semester, that will be a significant success.

Plans and Questions:

How to best serve cadets who come from Buddhist countries remains a question. Some of them participate with the sangha (more this past year than before), but others do not. They participate most when there is a special ceremony or a social event like a dinner, so we will continue to offer these and hope to build from there. Trips to visit other temples are helpful, but hard to arrange given cadet schedules.

How to provide for the differing needs and interests of this transient population also remains a question. Some are more interested in community, others in meditation, others in study; they enter at different times, and with differing degrees of preparation and interest. This year, I plan to offer more content in classes, and assume that cadets will rise to the challenge of doing some reading. I also think they can be challenged more in their meditation practice, and will work hard to find times for individual meetings.

Ongoing Needs:

Some items needed but currently unfunded are:

a bookshelf (designed, not yet purchased) to allow expansion of the library
a temple bell and stand
a han

An ongoing need that we have tried to address every year, still without success, is for a place outside of the Chapel where cadets could go for meditation when the Chapel is closed (it is open only from 9 to 5). We will continue to work on the scheduling problems involved in inviting nationally and internationally known speakers.

Our heartfelt thanks!

We are keenly aware that without the generous support of the Lenz Foundation and the Friends of Zen, especially the support of Dai En Hi Fu Roshi, we would still be meeting in a corner room with cinderblock walls and industrial carpet; and we would not have been able to develop the program that is becoming better and better established at the Academy.

In addition, your support to me as leader of the program has been extremely welcome and helpful this year. Please accept my deep thanks for this.

Sincerely,

Sarah Bender, Sensei
Cadet Chapel Buddhist Program Leader
HQ USAFA/HC
2348 Sijan Drive, Suite 100
USAF Academy, CO 80840-8280
DSN: 333-2636
Cell: 719 964-1797

In Defense of Promiscuity

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:34:00 GMT

by Jun Po Kelly Roshi (published on Integral Life)

Should spiritual teachers sleep with their students? It seems this is a question whose time has come.

Every worldview has a very strong option on this. Red says “Of course!” Amber usually says “No!”, but on occasion “Yes!” if the mythology permits it. Orange will say “yes,” but that decision is related to “status” (both the teacher’s and the student’s). Green screams “NO” and points to the lack of a “level playing field,” lecturing about the (im)balance of power, especially if the teacher is a man (oppressor) and the student a woman (oppressed). So what says the Integralist?

Let’s start with the act itself. Sexuality is sacred. This is where the genders, the two faces, little god-man Adam and little god-woman Eve actually touch faces, and through that embrace reincarnate. Magical thinking and mythic beliefs tell us that our egos will continue through the Law of Karma - good boys and girls get to be reborn as spiritually-aware people, bad boys and girls are forced into painful rebirths to burn and purge their sins.

The real truth of reincarnation is not based on subtle-state fixation or the ego’s desire to perpetuate itself beyond its death, or on Amber superstitions that promise an eternity of rebirths and ever-increasing happiness to True Believers. Reincarnation is the sacred sexual act of divine union, where sex leads to pregnancy, pregnancy leads to birth, and birth leads to a newly embodied spirit that is not your son, not your daughter, but rather is two-who-have-become-one.

As above, so below. In a true Tantric embrace of sexuality with a partner, the small self is transcended as you become one with the Divine - there is no separate self, no isolated ego, no other. And out of this real-world karma a child can be born, a child who is literally two-who-have-become-one, a combination of genes and impulses passed down equally from each parent, karma in-action.

Dance, dance, dance and lose your small selves within this passionate emergent sexual embrace that promises such powerful real-world karma! Divinely, unconditionally love, surrender your egos, dance and coming together, disappear into your wondrous mini version of that first big bang orgasm. This is part of what makes sex so sacred, but many things stand in the way of us seeing it.

We are blinded to the sacred nature of sexuality because of many different obstacles: our animal nature, tempting us to do all manner of reckless things; Puritanical ideas about monogamy and self-sacrifice; greed and selfishness that tempt us to hoard lovers and experiences; lust that takes us out of our divinity and out of our hearts; denial of our sexual and deeply sensual nature; jealousy’s distortions that turn love into a spasm of need and contraction; the politics of sex, where power and control reign supreme; and ignorance of the truth of the ephemeral gift of life, which is nothing less than Unconditional Love manifest.

All of these distortions of the sacred nature of sex are rooted in the belief that our egos are real. We believe that our reactions to external stimuli are who we are; we believe that we have permanence in this world; we believe in a future for ourselves and our desires. What we do not see is that our egos - us - are wholly conditioned, Pavlovian responses that are triggered without consciousness or free will. Someone cuts you off in traffic, and you get pissed off and think “this is who I am.” “I’m someone who gets pissed off in traffic,” goes your story. The truth is that no one made me angry, getting pissed off is merely a valuated, unconscious conditioned reaction, and this reaction prevents you from experiencing who you really are.

A pretty woman talks to you, and you feel desire, lust, curiosity, and ten other emotions arise within you - and then a conditioned reaction occurs. Or you sit in front of an attractive spiritual teacher, emotions arise, and a conditioned reaction occurs. In both cases, there is an emotional stimulation that is too often followed by unconscious chosen response. Our conditioning makes the choice instead of us making the choice, and compassion, love, and wisdom are left outside the door.

What we need is a different philosophical construct to redefine our neurolinguistic reaction to the most powerful stimuli in our lives, the places where conditioning binds us and those we love. We first need to understand how we can react differently, and then we must begin to practice reacting differently. If we remember that we are not real or permanent, that we are simply a figment of Divine imagination, we will begin to understand the exquisite joke that God has played. The good news is it really is a joke. The bad news is you’re the punch line.

How do we transform and let go of these conditioned blockages, of these egoic reactions that prevent us from living in the truth of the Divine Love that surrounds us, that penetrates us, that is us? To start we need to experience a deeper truth, not just believe a deeper truth. We need to have genuine insight into who we really are and be able to frame this insight in the correct way.

Insight alone is not enough. There have been many Awakened teachers who did not have the correct view to understand their insight in the face of their relationships, their sexuality, their emotions, and their cognitive understanding of the world. Because of this, we need insight, but we also need a philosophical re-indoctrinate that allows us to develop emotional maturity and mental stability. From this disciplined state of mind, intelligent compassion enlightens passion. It is only through the insight of meditation, the mental discipline of philosophy, and the emotional work of uncovering our psychological shadows that we can reform our heartbreaking and restricting ignorance that obscures the sacredness of sex.

Should Teachers Sleep with Their Students: A Case Study

Once upon a time, during my bachelor monastic training years, I completed a period of celibacy. Three years before I took on the mantle of lineage holder, 83rd patriarch in my ethnocentric patriarchal sexist tradition (when I became a Rinzai Zen Roshi), I had the opportunity to be instructed and subsequently enlightened and liberated to a deeper truth about sexual union.

This was kindly, rudely, and playfully demanded by the Sacred feminine I encountered. The year was 1989, and I was serving as head monk and vice abbot at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York State. I was at Syracuse University giving a dharma talk to perhaps 150 interested Green and Orange altitude seekers and state junkies. I wasn’t always a Zen priest and abbot, and in a former reincarnation had been a rather infamous name in the underground world of the counterculture. So I was wearing one of my leftover Armani suits over a silk shirt and exquisite tie, all wrapped somewhat ironically in my Buddhist rakusu.

At the end of my talk on the integration of Rinzai Zen into American culture, I opened the floor for questions. A delicate hand came up from an absolute beauty in the front row, a young Swedish coed whose blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin had already caught my eye, more than once.

“May I ask a personal question,” she said.

“Of course,” I replied from the lectern.

“Well,” she said, crossing her legs, “Considering your position, can you be with a woman?”

I smiled. “That depends,” I said, baiting her (or so I thought).

“Upon what,” she responded.

“On what you’re doing later.”

Everyone laughed. The Zen priest made a joke. About sex. Funny stuff.

The lecture ended, and I made small talk with people until they eventually left. Only the Swedish coed remained. She walked up to me, smiled, and asked, “So where are we going?”

I blushed and laughed.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Nineteen.”

“Nineteen, huh? What’s your story?”

“I study physics, speak 5 languages, have a passion for Arabic poetry, have lived all over the world, and now am very interested in Rinzai Zen.”

“You like Rumi?” I stalled.

She did, and it turned out we both had his poem “The Guest House” committed to memory.

She paused. “So where are we going,” she repeated.

I looked down at this young Goddess. Teachers and students must have boundaries, I told myself, feeling my stern inner Amber judge lording over me. Thou shall not! he breathed.

“We’re not going anywhere,” I said. “Not if you want to learn from me. It wouldn’t be appropriate.”

She laughed, took my hand in hers, and bid me to come close to her. I leaned in.

“I thought you were Awake,” she said, shaking her head with laughter in her eyes. “You fool—I’m not trying to hurt you, nor will I ever hurt you.”

I stared back, at a loss for words.

“I’ve slept with every teacher I’ve ever respected and that could meet me here.”

“Oh,” I managed.

Now that I have your attention, know that I do not in any way support unconscious, lust-driven sexual relationships. When the Integralist asks the question, “Should a spiritual teacher sleep with a student?” you can bet the answer is going to be complex. And incredibly simple. And if you don’t understand that, you should probably stop here.

To Be Continued....

Moonlight in Sonoma

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 02:55:00 GMT

by Jim Hight

On the last night of the recent Hollow Bones sesshin, I hardly slept at all. Counting breaths, reciting mantras, even reading a novel brought sleep no closer. At 3 AM, I resolved to try counting once more. By the time I reached 80 breaths, I had an insight worth much more than one sleepless night.

The thoughts that draw me away from the moment with strongest force are visions of arguments in which I'm right or other scenarios in which I show my knowledge and competence.

This wasn't news. I've known for years that being right is my obsession and has been since fourth grade when I learned that I could get my teacher's approval - and escape momentarily from my pervasive self-dislike - by answering her questions correctly, at least in English and social science.

I built my self-image around being smart, analytical and articulate, and it has affected everything from my career choice (journalist) to what I like to talk about at parties (subjects I know a lot about). For a decade or more, I've been able to see this twisted perspective and have worked to heal my shame and self-righteousness.

But it wasn't until that moment that I saw what the compulsion to be right really costs me - my essential awareness of who and what I am, and all the wisdom, compassion and joy that shines through me when I dwell in pure awareness.

I saw myself repeating that fourth grader's neurotic and ineffective strategy and realized that it never works, that my ego will never be satisfied. And I simultaneously realized that meditation and Mondo Zen emotional koans are the practices that can enable me to transform and transcend this crazy pattern.

My heart was full of joy and laughter. What a great joke! And now that I'd gotten it, I wouldn't have to be the punch line anymore.

I got up, dressed and walked out into the speechless moonlight that Rumi talked about, grateful beyond measure.

A New Year

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:58:00 GMT

from Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi

Beloved Sangha of the Hollow Bones Order,

This past year has been wonderful. I stand in awe and full appreciation of that old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

Thank you! Our Mondo Zen practice has taken root, and a great Awakening is taking place with our ranks. Our angst is indeed becoming our liberation.

If you have not had the opportunity to attend a Mondo sesshin or worked with one of our sisters or brothers who has done the Mondo Teacher Training, please study the Mondo Zen Training Manual online. It is at last fully adequate, and do attend sesshin or work our Mondo Zen protocol with someone ASAP.

Please consider attending the May 2011 Colorado Teachers' Training sesshin, for your first time or for a reconfirmation. Remember, Zen training is no different than concert training. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? It's really very simple - in either case, great instruction, clear understanding and practice, practice, practice.

This is where the rubber hits the road. This is where you will not only accelerate your Awakening within your concentration Zazen practice, but where you will also change your philosophical Understanding of your True Clear Deep Heart Mind nature and experience how to hold and utilize this Awakened mind clarity and compassion in your ordinary daily life!

2010

...added a small victory. After requesting 100% organic food for fifteen years at our annual Rohatsu sesshin at Saint Norbert Abbey here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, they have finally offered to have our meals catered so that we can be 100% organic. Yes, Sacred Stewardship - progress on the road to no-where!

... added four new priests this year: three sisters - Kevala Deb Hoffmann, Reishin Denise Leong and Daji Corinna Peterson - and one brother, Zenrin Jeff Goodman.

... added a new Hollow Bones sangha in Australia, and another in Holland and we have committed to those sanghas to hold an annual Australian and Holland sesshin.

Our association with Ken Wilber's Integral Philosophy sangha is introducing Mondo Zen to a broad audience, and new sisters and brothers from that organization are coming to train from around the world.

My health is stable, damage from chemo and radiation livable, and, subsequently, I am committed to lead five sesshins on three continents over the next five months. Hope to see you at one of them.

Remember who you are! And if you do not yet know, back to the Zendo!!!!!!

In any case, unconditional love, robust health, joy, and, oh yes, Genuine Insight to each and everyone of you! I remain eternally grateful to you for your practice and support.

Yours in this Dharma ... Happy New Year,

Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi

Meditation Practice Yields Gold!

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Written by Tom Carroll

Late one rainy afternoon in the parking lot of my bank, I dropped a gold nugget. It had been in a wooden box with several old pieces of jewelry. Rings, one raw nugget and a nugget studded stick pen. There were also tie clasps and cuff links from another era and an assortment of broken chains and other bits and pieces, some solid and others, gold plated. These were things that I had no use for but still held sentimental value and with the rising price of the metal, I'd decided to put them all in a safe place.

Getting out of my car and turning to close the door, the box slipped off the top of a stack of papers I carried. Being November and just before closing time, daylight was already slipping away as the little box slid off into the air. I could only watch as it sailed forward and hit the asphalt, its contents flying away from the point of impact.

Quick as I could, I picked up all that I could see and then began to look closer for what might be missing. The nugget. One long, thin piece of natural gold the size and shape of a small leaf was missing. I had never thought of it as resembling a leaf. But there before me on the pavement were literally thousands of little golden leaves blown to the ground from nearby bushes. In an instant, I realized that my nugget resembled any one of those leaves, each just the size, shape and color of a small piece of gold that now lay among them, hidden in plain sight.

As I stood looking, people hurrying in and out of the bank stopped to ask what I had lost. Uncomfortable feelings of embarrassment and mistrust assailed me as I tried to think of ways to explain my predicament. A wind had kicked up, but cold as it was, several offered to help. I wanted to be left alone. Not appreciating their kindness made me feel ashamed. But the gold had summoned its daemon and gold does not generate trust. I was thankful to see the good intentions of these helping eyes and hands giving way to the rain, the press of time and their own errands.

The nugget weighed 3.2 pennyweight or .175 oz. Calculated at the current price, somewhere in front of me lay $236.00 dollars. If I simply walked away, I could live with the loss of two hundred dollars. But what really bothered me was knowing that every time I drove into that parking lot, I would remember and feel the sting. I knew that I would always regret not having spent the time to find that piece of gold. So I settled on a plan and after depositing the other pieces in the vault, I drove away hoping that mine or another car tire would not catch up and carry away a little piece of treasure.

Two hours later, it was pitch dark, and I was back. The bank was closed and the parking lot deserted. Wearing a heavy coat, gloves and armed with two flashlights taped together and angled so that their light converged, forming a single bright beam I began my search among the carpet of little leaves and the reflection of rainwater on wet pavement.

"How stupid of me to be so clumsy," I found myself thinking.
"If only I had been more careful."
"I'll never find it.”
“What if I never find it?!”

As anyone who meditates learns to do, I noticed thoughts as they arose and let them dissolve the same way they had come, each time returning to breath and uninterrupted examination of that which what right there in front of me, giving each leaf a moment of pure attention.

Just as if this was my first hour on a meditation cushion, the stream of distractive thoughts was relentless, each one attempting to seduce me with its story of what had happened, what I was seeing, all of which would make it harder to find the nugget. Thankfully, by habit of practice I could bring my attention back to the immediate present, each breath creating space between attention and thoughts, giving my eyes over to undistracted seeing.

Breath and look.
"How long would I stay here?"
Back to the breath.

My feet and the beam of light moved slowly forward. Ten feet in one direction then over and back the way I had come. As I finished this first grid, I shifted ninety degrees, covering the same ground, but now my flashlights would illuminate the scene from another angle. A car pulled into the lot, its headlights a glare that made it harder to distinguish single objects on the ground. With its lights facing me, I could not tell if it was a police patrol. If so, would the officer confront me? Once again my attention had wandered.

The rain that was falling was cold as ice, and the wind on my wet head radiated the chill down my back. And still, each leaf had to be examined. I could not allow my sight to drift casually.

“Do not miss a single breath!” So many times I had heard this injunction on the first day of a Sesshin. This is the standard we attempt to uphold through the week. And though we inevitably find our minds wondering in the wilderness of imagined things… without recrimination, we come back to the breath.

Just as if during a practice period, I summond the will to stay present. But this was a money shot. One chance was probably all I would get. In a single moment, if my mind strayed my eyes might pass, unseeing over the little piece of gold.

Thirty minutes then another ten, how long could I keep looking? Was my search pattern consistent enough? Had the nugget bounced away on impact, was I even looking in the right place? Again, I had lost my focus.

Unless someone else had found it or a car tire actually had carried the nugget away - short of these two unlikely possibilities, that little piece of gold lay waiting somewhere nearby. Fifty minutes, maybe an hour passed without success. Inevitably, feelings of frustration tugged at me. Thankfully, each time a thought rose up I re-opened the space between the subject - the thought story - and the object - the real objective that held me out in the dark and cold.

It was the color of the leaves. And it was the same size as the leaves. But when I saw it, no second look was needed. When I saw where it lay, it could not have been more distinct. Gold. There's nothing like the real thing!

I've written this because the experience of losing and finding again is a timeless tale. We lose things and all too often never find them again. But when we find an important lost thing, emotions combine, creating the most sublime of feelings. After a few moments of exaltation, our attention is released, and we can move on again without lingering concerns or regret.

And I wrote this because it exposed an unpleasant truth about my values. It is true that some people cannot be trusted where money or other things of value are concerned. But my distrust of the people who offered their help came too quick - was too visceral to be labeled simple caution.

And finally, “The money shot.” Why would a little piece of metal command an extra measure of effort? Would it be too dramatic to suggest that every minute on the cushion is a money shot?

While we are losing and finding our ways through life, we have meditation practice, inside of which nothing is lost and nothing needs to be found. I often practice to get something. But I also practice to recover from the need to get anything. This experience has reinforced that understanding.

Take Your Seat with Mondo Zen - An Integral Philosophy Perspective on Mondo Zen

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:08:00 GMT

Jun Po and Vicara will be teaching Mondo Zen at the New Year's Integral Spiritual Experience Year 2: The Future of Love Conference at Asilomar Retreat Center in California. Those attending will receive the Mondo Zen Training Manual along with this introduction written by Jamie Rogers entitled "An Integral Philosophy Perspective on Mondo Zen."

Click to read this intriguing perspective. A donation of $10.00 for this work would be appreciated and help us to fulfill our mission and spread the dharma. Please click on the Support Us link to contribute.

Thoughts About Zen and the Art of Love

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:26:00 GMT

Some comments from Tom Carroll to Jun Po ... on your Integral Institute interview:

Your interview with Jeff was as good a talk as I've heard you give. It took a while for Jeff to find his focus, and he stumbled a bit getting started.

"The closest Zen gets to love is warmth." Interesting remark but not good for the laugh he was looking for....
"Still water runs deep" .... Pretty good recovery from you.
"Your ego thinks your heart can be broken. [But it's] vast beyond comprehension." That's a line I will not soon forget.

"The heart as the focus for practice." This certainly simplifies things... but I guess the woman who called at the end did not see this. "It's so complex," she said. "Why does it need to be so Complex?" Your answer was good - but the answer is also touched by paradox - making insight more illusive.

The only place I heard you get a bit ragged is when Jeff makes laudatory remarks about his childhood training - his appreciation of the sense of being the child of a loving god. You stalled out...let in some dead air - maybe intentionally. What I liked is that you went on to talk about passion - to identify the place and the case for passion! I think you sidestepped Jeff's intended meaning. But the argument for passion was worth it. Maybe at some point you could revisit what what Jeff was really saying - which I'd guess was about how we can relate to archetypes at any stage of development.

I think you are doing a better job of explaining compassion. Added to this, the emphasis on the place and need for passion in practice and the heart as the center of practice - all very helpful for anyone straddling traditions.

I am glad to hear you speak as you did. You may have always thought or seen this. But for myself, a one time church boy, to come toward Buddhism was a very dispiriting experience. I see now, and you apparently agree, that this was not necessary. The rigidity of a tradition, be it Buddhism or Catholicism - both can be stultifying.

Thanks - no comment necessary - just some thoughts.

Best to ya.

So, Where is it Now?

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:44:00 GMT

by Will Pye

It was a grim Melbourne evening, a reminder that summer was no more, and the seasonal fluctuations of my mind (like Melbourne, bestowed with a tendency for all seasons to be experienced in the same day) were in sync with the outer darkness as I stressed my way through the lingering peak hour traffic. I had been aware of Jun Po Denis Kelly, and on hearing of his appearance at a community building in Windsor, it took but a brief moment to decide to attend. It was an article in EnlightenNext, formerly What is Enlightenment? - that wonderful magazine that appeals to a far broader audience than the style of its founder, editor and resident guru Andrew Cohen - that introduced me to “the wild man from Wisconsin” as I have heard others knowingly refer to Jun Po.

I recall being impressed that he had practiced yoga (under such luminaries as BKS Iyengar and Patabi Jois) as well as being a student of Zen for 25 years culminating in him receiving recognition as a Zen Master in 1992. I was also impressed that not only had he deeply explored these two ancient inner technologies but had also to some degree integrated them, bringing yoga instruction for the first time to the New York Zendo where he was Vice Abbot.

In addition, he had, by his own account, done the hard psychological yards through psychotherapy as it became clear to him that for all his meditative capacity and insight, there was work on the level of personality still to be done. That he had manufactured high quality (as testified by another well-regarded Zen Master!) LSD in the 1960's and consequently experienced the challenges of incarceration only further served to support my impression that this was a man who appeared more committed to his own awakening and to truth than to his comfort or indeed laws and rules, whether they be of an ancient sect or modern state - a rare breed, one who walked his talk and I hoped someone from whom I might learn as I strive to embody my own highest ideals.

Here perhaps was a truly integral cat, versed and immersed in three of the most powerful transformative techniques the world offers, harmonizing East and West, old and new, endogenous and exogenous for the growth and good of body, mind, and soul. So it is testimony to the capacity for frenzy of my monkey mind that the thoughts dancing upon the stage of awareness as I darted along the city streets were of bailing on the exceptional opportunity to hear him speak and perhaps I would be best served by a glass of wine instead. Hesse's notion that we are not one or two but rather thousands of selves has long been born out by my experience. (I include the delightful passage from Steppenwolf as a footnote for your enjoyment.)*

The toing and froing of mind fell on attending, and so it was I found myself parking up with 5 minutes to spare and plodding my contracted self into the hall, paying my admission and taking a seat amongst 40 or so others, apart, where I could naval gaze and remonstrate with myself undisturbed. Such was my narcissistic preoccupation with imagined issues, by the divinely imagined me, that I failed to notice at the time there were people in the audience I knew. I sat down, crossed my legs, folded my arms, and awaited the main act.

And what an act.

Within a few moments, it became clear Jun Po also possessed a good understanding of the use of form to assist in transmitting essence; walking out slowly and purposefully, a Kyosaku, the (in)famous Zen stick raised in front of him, like a samurai sword, his vision straight ahead and his tall body adorned in dark flowing robes, he cut quite a figure. The clear presence, perhaps even majesty, had a noticeable effect on an audience instantly awed; quite a piece of theatre or as Jun Po curiously pronounces it, “the-ater,” the “e” and “a” separated as in “re-aim” rather than “fear.” I have never heard anyone pronounce this word in such a way, not even other Wisconsinites.

Humour was the next tool employed to engage us and even a little self-deprecation, just enough to build rapport but certainly not so much as to diminish the presence. Now what happened next is hard to describe, but it's the reason I write this article and why I came to know a little more about Jun Po. I cannot recall what he said and do not suppose that it matters. What I do recall, most clearly, is that within a few minutes of him having entered the room I was a different person; the clenched manic me was mere memory, instead now subsumed in awareness, that presence that we are, that I had once known yet forgotten. Where there had been despairing, there was now joy, the tumult replaced with calm and the previous inner turmoil was laughable by its incongruence with this seemingly more authentic, or at least more pleasant, state of mind.

To use a Jun Po technical term, my head was no longer up my arse, and, as is typically the case when an expanded perspective glances back at contracted melodrama, I felt considerable relief and amusement; “Oh yeah...this is it, this is what is really going on,” I thought to myself and looked back fondly, if mildly embarrassed at the tantruming child that had been so sweetly ushered off the stage of my consciousness. I "got the joke" to use more Mondo Zen terminology leading to “sacred laughter,” a natural response to seeing that the lead role in one's personal drama is but a figment of divine imagination.

I had read somewhere that in a Satsang such as this was, the teacher would direct his talk not to the monks or novices but to the Buddha figure at the back of the hall, to symbolise that this was one Buddha Nature speaking to the Buddha Nature in each of the audience members. The process at heart not mere intellectual exposition but rather a transmission; the teacher, by holding or being a certain state of mind or consciousness, communicates it to receptive souls in the room.

As I read the description, I liked the idea, nice symbolism, more my cup of tea than transubstantiation but, like such rites I had previously observed, obviously not to be taken literally; however, as I sat there and felt joy and expanse where moments ago there were fear and despair, I could only conclude that some such transmission had occurred and “I” was awake to the Buddha Mind that we all are.

Until my next slumber.

Whatever this guy had I wanted some; never before had I encountered a being that radiated the presence I sought and been open to what they had to offer. I enjoyed the rest of the talk, overcame my nerves at its completion, and approached Jun Po thanking him and requesting an interview for a writing project. Happily he agreed, and whilst I was unable to attend the Melbourne retreat, in but a week's time I was, 6 weeks or so later, flying to the USA to attend a Mondo Zen Sesshin Jun Po was leading in Colorado. I have long searched for such embodiment,t and a 14 hour flight was a minor consideration as I facilitated a closer look. Reaching the wonderfully and aptly (just how apt I did not yet know) named Loveland, we arrived at the permanent spiritual community of the wonderfully warm people of the Emissaries of Divine Light, our hosts for the Sesshin.

Our 7 days would involve about 6 hours of sitting Zazen (and with each sit no longer than 45-50 minutes all very manageable) an hour of Kinhin (walking meditation) and 3 or 4 sessions of Qi Gong per day plus an introduction to and practice of the Mondo Zen dialogue process, a wonderful meeting of traditional Koan work with psychology informed by some of the key findings of neuroscience. Combining “philosophical reindoctrination” with the experience of “Pure Clear Deep Heart/Mind” which is then anchored aurally, verbally and physically, Ken Wilber has described the process as “one of the most important, creative, and novel additions to the meditation pantheon, highly recommended for the accelerated effect it has on spiritual growth and development.” In bringing awareness to the more unconscious aspects of psyche, our emotional reactivity, it promises that “your angst can be your liberation.”

As I contemplated the schedule for the week ahead, I felt so deeply grateful to be held in this oh so Integral embrace. I only felt more joy on discovering the homely accommodation, the organic vegetarian food, the time for nature walks. There was a very deep felt sense that I was very much in the right place, precisely where I needed to be right now. The insight deepened sufficiently that I soon realised one is always in exactly the right place at the right time! My experience exceeded all expectation. There was a brief moment during generally pain-ridden and lacking even basic concentration Zazen when the self-referencing “me” was absent for a moment, and there was just awareness, stuff arising, no hearer only hearing happening, just this exquisite is-ness. Until the sense of “I'”soon returned and felt deep gratitude and a little spiritual pride for having the experience (ego taking credit for an event in which it had no doing, was not even present!). However, the Kensho or mini-Satori was nothing new, and there was something even more beautiful and abiding, an unfolding that I so needed although had not known I did.

During the Mondo Zen process, aided by the accentuated general awareness from Zazen and a greater felt sense of the energetic or etheric body thanks to the Qi Gong, I deeply understood what it feels like to speak from the head and most beautifully what it feels like to speak from the heart. Of course, I had known the difference conceptually, but suddenly there was experiential understanding (the genius of Mondo Zen being that it very deliberately and artfully catalyses such a deepening of insight and realisation), and this reverberated around my entire being. Feeling into this sense and exploring it further, there was a physical warmth and tingling around my solar plexus that stayed with me for weeks afterwards, comparable to a muscle strain, a lingering echo of a once intense energy.

I rationalise now that there was a blockage of sorts in the flow of energy, and that this process (and presumably a fair bit of work in the proceeding years ensuring a certain ripeness) had facilitated its clearing. It was an opening of the heart, and I and others in my life have benefited so deeply from this; I cannot hope to adequately express the beauty of this experience and the gratitude I feel for having been introduced to such a powerful technology, so suited to my deepest needs.

I have meditated for 9 years, done retreats in which we meditated for 10 hours a day, practised yoga, indulged in therapy of various sorts, sat at the feet of Swami's and across desks from Quantum Physicists, worked with most known entheogens, fasted, over-indulged, ceremonied with shamans in the Peruvian Jungle, been worked on by intuitive healers, kinesiologists, esoteric acupuncturists, aura readers and the rest and done just about every personal development seminar going, experiencing many wonderful and powerful insights in the process.

However, in depth and its abiding quality - even after contractions and forgetting - I can still see today the leap it created in my mind-body and the deepened capacity to live, in each moment from that place of Buddha Nature that is us all - nothing comes close to that week in the land of Love. As Jun Po put it in his no b/s style referring to the Sesshin as a whole: "f$%ing profound."

You will hear talk at such retreats and similarly minded seminars of “creating a container” - that is, putting together the form but more importantly bringing the essence, the presence, such that transformation or whatever can be most easily faciliated. Once again, via experience, the truth of a concept was presented; Jun Po, DoShin, Taiso, Reishin, Engo, et al., certainly created such a container over that week. Cynicism, doubt, righteousness, all arose and were quietly and almost imperceptibly dissolved in a fiercely loving embrace.

There was a moment in Dokusan, the interview between teacher and novice, which occurred for me pre heart-opening when Jun Po asked if I had experienced that pure deep heart/mind.

“No,” I said, “before, but not this week.”
“So, where is it now?” Jun Po asked.

I laughed out loud, for awakened mind was, of course, where it always is; behind, beneath, above and beyond, within and without thought and emotions - right here, right now, pure awareness, this awareness. I am more awake and more skilled at remaining so and am so grateful to have such a resource available to assist.

Happily, Jun Po returns to Australia in March,** and I for one will be taking my seat.

**Details of the March retreat

**************************************************************************

*Footnote - From Steppnewolf:

The division into wolf and man, flesh and spirit, by means of which Harry tries to make his destiny more comprehensible to himself is a very great simplification. It is a forcing of the truth to suit a plausible, but erroneous, explanation of that contradiction which this man discovers in himself and which appears to himself to be the source of his by no means negligible sufferings. Harry finds in himself a human being, that is to say, a world of thoughts and feelings, of culture and tamed or sublimated nature, and besides this he finds within himself also a wolf, that is to say, a dark world of instinct, of savagery and cruelty, of unsublimated or raw nature. In spite of this apparently clear division of his being between two spheres, hostile to one another, he has known happy moments now and then when the man and the wolf for a short while were reconciled with one another. Suppose that Harry tried to ascertain in any single moment of his life, any single act, what part the man had in it and what part the wolf, he would find himself at once in a dilemma, and his whole beautiful wolf-theory would go to pieces. For there is not a single human being .. who is so conveniently simple that his being can be explained as the sum of two or three principal elements; and to explain so complex a man as Harry by the artless division into wolf and man is a hopelessly childish attempt. Harry consists of a hundred or a thousand selves, not of two. His life oscillates, as everyone's does, not merely between two poles, such as the body and the spirit, the saint and the sinner, but between thousand and thousands.

Jun Po in "The Future of Love" Teleseminar

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:48:00 GMT

In times of crisis like these, perhaps Love has never been more important than it is today. It's for this reason that I'm delighted and honored to share with you that I will be participating in an extraordinary teleseminar series on The Future of Love, Saturday, October 9th. During this 30-week series, we'll engage and explore the biggest topic relevant to all human beings on the planet – Love!

Join me and over 25 of the world's leading visionaries, spiritual teachers, thinkers and leaders dedicated to unfolding a new spirituality--including Ken Wilber, Deepak Chopra, Jean Houston, Andrew Cohen, Warren Farrell, Traleg Rinpoche, John Gray, Lama Surya Das, Sally Kempton, Arjuna and Chameli Ardagh, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, Marilyn Schlitz, Tami Simon, Sofia Diaz, Saul Williams, Dr. Marc Gafni, Diane Musho Hamilton, Roger Walsh, and others for this unprecedented conversation.

This is a complimentary event, our gift to you! There is no charge to participate. You can participate live, or listen to the recordings later at any time, from anywhere in the world.

Together we'll address some of the most important questions facing us today, such as:
• What is Love?
• How do we find it, nurture and sustain it?
• Does Love mean the same thing today that it did a thousand years ago when so many of the great religious traditions developed their views about Love?
• How can we help Love evolve through our own development and transformation?
• What are the structural patterns in the evolution of Love?
• How does our conscious participation change the evolution of Love?
• What are the evolutionary Integral skills of Love and relationship that have the power to deepen our realization and to liberate our true and unique self?
• What new gifts for the world can emerge from this evolution?

Each week, you'll have the opportunity to listen in as well as interact with visionary leaders committed to helping evolve the future of love.

Warm regards,
Jun Po, Roshi

P.S. Don’t forget to sign-up for free, even if you can’t attend the live calls. Each call is recorded and available as an MP3 download.

Windmills of Your Mind

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:16:00 GMT

Dear Sangha,

Here is a photo of the group at the end of the three-day Mondo sesshin that Vicara and I just led at the Venwoude commune near Utrecht in the Netherlands. Having worked with their core group this time, we will return for a full seven-day sesshin next April.

We had a fabulous time and welcome the Holland Sangha, our new Mondo friends. One world, one heart, one mind ... er, better make that two hearts and one mind.

Ah, the Dharma and the drama. How wonderful to share in this great adventure. Come to a sesshin soon. Do not hesitate to awaken.

Love,
Jun Po

Staff Needed for Australia Sesshin

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:58:00 GMT

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I will be leading a Mondo Zen sesshin in Melbourne, Australia, from March 11-19, 2011, with yoga practice. I get to teach Asanas once again! I need an Inji attendant and staff for this sesshin. Is there anyone out there who can afford to pay his/her own travel to attend and staff with us? It's summer there.

Send me a note or use the Contact Us link if you would like to join me.

In gratitude,
Jun Po

Wild Goose Teacher Training

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:58:00 GMT

by Jun Po Denis Kelly

Great …

There were just sixteen of us there - a full house at Wild Goose Zendo - from four countries: New Zealand, Australia, Holland, and the United States, as well as a contingent from Spanish Harlem. As a teaching and learning tool, we introduced the TRUCK acronym:

Transmit the koan
Realize the koan
Understand your realization
Claim you new perspective, and both facilitator and subject
Know.

The first day and a half was spent studying the Mondo manual, establishing context. We began and ended every day with a full morning service, zazen and Qi Gong; each study and practice sesshin ended with fifteen to thirty minutes of integration meditation.

Throughout the day, we maintained essential silence.

Koan study and presentation practice were divided into 90 minute sessions, two koans at a time, followed by a thorough TRUCK analysis before heading into the Why Bother Koans 11 and 12. Triads returned to the large group half a dozen times a day for review and discussions. Everyone got the joke … all left more enlightened and committed to their own 60-day Mondo follow-up practice and excited to bring Mondo into their communities.

Let me say this again - the best way to live this Dharma is to learn to teach this Dharma. Come and join us at a teacher training as soon as you can. Hey! We have another one coming up Oct. 23-30 in Colorado with eight seats left. What are you waiting for? Liberation and Freedom are right here within and in front of you.

Blessings and gratitude to all of you.

What Roshi Did on His Summer Vacation

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:55:00 GMT

One of Jun Po's passions ... wild-caught edibles.

While at Wild Goose Zendo in August preparing for sesshin, Jun Po and Kevala went mushroom hunting. Jackpot! From the Mushroom Master himself, read more about these two varieties.

Sulphur Shelf Fungus - Laetiporus sulphureus (aka the chicken of the woods)
Grifola frondosa - Maitake (aka the Hen of the Woods)