In this video, Michael discusses the idea of love as inspired by Paul’s letter to Corinthians, Chapter 13. He then compares the Christian version of love to a decidedly Buddhist interpretation, drawing on the idea that love can be seen as a simple, felt sense of the Infinite.

Michael’s inspiration for this talk came out of a visit to his childhood church and a discussion he had with his friend and minister of this organization.

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ISmile325 - Video: Comparing Christian and Buddhist Versions of Love [ 51:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (37)

Here’s another installment in a series of emails that took place between Michael and one of his senior students beginning the Summer of 2009. May you find the exchange interesting and enriching.

Student: I’m confused in that so much of what I seem to be learning from this teaching, or unlearning, or whatever, centers around how things are at once part of a great union and yet, at the same time, they are also different. Does this make sense?

Michael: It does. You’re hitting on one of the most fundamental aspects of the teaching; that being our recognition of the simultaneous difference and sameness of all things, all the time.

Student: How does this recognition play out?

Michael: At first we see the two realities, form and formlessness. Then we see the unity of form and formlessness. Then we actually integrate the division and the union, simultaneously living as a conscious expression of both.

Student: Is this like the Zen proverb that says: first, mountains are just mountains, then mountains are not mountains, then mountains are mountains again?

Michael: Yes. But there’s a huge adjustment of perspective from the mountain at step one to the mountain of step three. First, we see the mountain as a gross form that falls in line with what we’ve always called “a mountain.” Next, after some time with a meditation practice, we see that the mountain is nothing more than a beautiful co-mingling of sub-atomic spin and space. Just like us. This object we used to see as just a mountain now arises as an interdependent, temporary expression of infinity within our awareness. Just like us. Once this happens the mountain takes on decidedly un-mountain-like qualities that allow for us to see through, if you will, its form. Instead of being a mountain that is fixed and permanent, we see the mountain as a series of relationships that are decidedly fluid. Finally, from here, we start to appreciate the mountain, in all its majesty, as a divine expression of Spirit. Just like everything else. Consciously seeing the mountain as both something solid in our awareness as well as something that is more than its concrete appearances lets us integrate the form with the formless. Emptiness, so to speak, becomes full and the mountain is at once itself, and beyond whatever our definition of mountain has ever been.

Student: And this same principle applies to anything that we can see, hear, feel, taste or smell?

Michael: Or think.

One of the things that Zen practice leaves out, according to Michael McAlister, is a more direct approach to uncovering the Witness. This simple awareness, is all there ever is, and in this talk, Michael uses a piece by Ken Wilber in order to point out this constant Witness as a way for deepening a practice. Following this part of the talk, Michael goes on to describe what can be expected as practice deepens and what meditators can expect as the process unfolds.

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ISmile324 - When Practice Deepens [ 48:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (523)

Here’s another installment in a series of emails that took place between Michael and one of his senior students beginning the Summer of 2009. May you find the exchange interesting and enriching.

September 23, 2010

Student: Is full participation in the dance between the Absolute and the relative the same as the intersection between Spirit and psychology?

Michael: I’d say so, if we can look at our definition of the Absolute as being beyond the boundaries of the mind and the relative as being the actual boundaries themselves. So your psychology can be seen as the movement of your mind. As such, psychology is your ego’s study of itself. The spiritual path, on the other hand, offers any of us interested in doing the work an ever deepening perspective from which we can cultivate a radically different view of our own experiences. That view definitely invites a dance.

Student: But this deeper view doesn’t necessarily put us in the clouds, so to speak. It seems this deeper unfolding of the Absolute changes my approach to whatever arises in my psychology. Like when I find myself getting self-conscious or embarrassed, I’m starting to see that I am fully human. Then when consciousness shines its light on the self-consciousness or embarrassment, these experiences can be seen as if they are smoke, seen through, temporary.

Michael: Beautiful. Feels like a big relief, doesn’t it?

Student: Huge. But I’m seeing that this is the dance. And part of full integration, the process of full, open participation means always being open to new dance steps.  Does this make sense?

Michael: Yes. Shall we dance?

Commuter Zen #73

Allison Yarrow offered up this piece about Lodro Rinzler’s class at the Shambhala Center in NYC. I thought it quite interesting and struck me as so congruent with a great deal of our quasi-Buddhist approaches that we celebrate at Infinite Smile.

Rinzler authors a weekly column on Huffington Post and he has a new book, The Buddha Walks Into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation. The column, What Would Sid Do, offers an “honest look at what meditators face in the modern world,” reminding readers that “before Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) attained enlightenment he was a confused 20-and 30-something looking to learn how to live a spiritual life.”

via The Daily Beast.

As I so frequently say from the cushion, there is nowhere that the Dharma is not being offered. There is no place that exists without the fullness of the teaching. Ego itself is infused with the magesty of Spirit’s continual grace. This includes alcohol, as Rinzler points out, as well as sex. I couldn’t agree more and I’m glad to see that the Dharma’s application in the “real” world is facing these and other issues fully.

Chogyam Trungpa

On the other hand, I’ve also found that if this approach isn’t treated, ahem, soberly we can find deep divisions can present themselves in our practice. The founder of Lodro Rinzler’s tradition, Chögyam Trungpa, as well as many of his followers, fell into these traps and caused an assortment of problems. So we need to continually remind ourselves that despite the fact that our vices can be met mindfully doesn’t mean that they will not be potentially very harmful to both self and other.

For the record, I’m not trying to moralize. I am, however, pointing out that a certain spiritual finesse is needed in our work both as teachers and as students. Any of us really on the path to awaken continually needs to lean into the notion of “Do No Harm” as we live in the world. Yes, people will get hurt in break-ups. I know this first hand. And yes, occasional overindulgence may tax our bodies unnecessarily. I used to be much more familiar with this kind of pain. Not so much these days. Regardless, it is in the clarity of an individual’s intention that an awareness can unfold which allows her to awaken to a spaciousness that is “grounded” in a field beyond all vanity and all desire. Skipping the steps that get us to this fundamental peace, means that we bypass the very climb that is most needed if we are to truly awaken. Anything short of this often allows for the structures of the ego to stay intact in the most subtle of ways thereby giving rise to a very small self that mistakenly sees itself as Big.

When we let ourselves truly recognize what lies beyond our preferences and our attachments, we begin to get a sense of how expansive we really are. This recognition can be an explosive experience that rattles us to our core, scaring us from continuing our practice. In this talk, Michael encourages us to stay the course, and as he points out in his book, Awake in This Life, letting the magnitude of what we are work its mystery through us. Doing so tends to break down all sorts of areas of identification not only in relation to our sense of self but also our sense of the tribes and the causes that we feel we feel connected to. Despite this questioning, however, we often find that we have a chance to bring a deeper consciousness into our “normal” world, thereby enabling an even deeper, even more profound participation in our lives.

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ISmile323 - The Enormity of What You Really Are [ 37:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (709)

Commuter Zen #72