June 2006 Vol. 3 No. 2 Still. News from Still Mind Zendo Nalanda by Cynthia Brown Outside the city of Rajgir, in Indian culture as a whole was northeastern India, lies the in a golden age. site of Nalanda University. In its time, this was one of the In 1193, invading Turkish ancient world’s great centers, Muslims destroyed the uni- and a symbol of Indian versity, and monks were Buddhism’s power as a cul- killed or scattered into exile. tural force throughout Asia. Nalanda’s library of Buddhist and other texts was so large, Today a visitor can walk on we are told, that when the and explore the remains of invaders burned its contents, six brick stupas and eleven the fire did not die for six monasteries, once covered in months. plaster and painted in a fanta- sia of bright colors. The I visited the Nalanda site in brick ruins cover a large area, February, as one of a group one kilometer square (about of pilgrims traveling "in the 12 by 12 city blocks). And footsteps of the Buddha." what is visible is only about Today, partly due to the 1193 one-tenth of the total area of invasion, Buddhism has Nalanda. At its peak, 10,000 almost no native expression people lived and studied here. in India; new temples are The university, in other built in the northeastern words, was huge, a metropo- provinces by Korean, lis of learning, monastic Japanese, or Sri Lankan sects, training and art. and at historical Buddhist sites the pilgrims are a color- Nalanda existed in some form ful mixture of the nations in the Buddha’s time, and by where Buddhism has flow- Painting of Bodhidharma by Gukei Echu (1859-1944) some accounts he visited and ered outside of India. gave sermons in a mango But a thousand years ago, the Beyond words and letters; Covering one's ears to steal [the sound of] the tinkling bell. grove at the site; later, as the ancestors of these internation- Direct pointing to the human mind; plaque at the entrance says, al pilgrims would have come Heaping mud upon the soil. the university "rose to promi- to Nalanda to live, teach, and nence" in the fifth century debate the sutras in Sanskrit, Gukei Echu became the Zen master of Shofuku-ji in 1907 and was AD and reached its greatest the lingua franca for Asia, selected as the chief abbot of Myoshin-ji in 1924. influence between the ninth (Thanks to Bruce Sengan Kennedy for the use of this image.) and twelfth centuries, when (continues on page 2) (Continued from page 1) enth-century pilgrim’s account. was the institutional answer and Indian scholars would to that question. have hosted them. As my He tells us, for example, that friends and I walk along the teachings were validated, and But he adds that the universi- tops of walls, looking down the tradition sustained, through ty – supported by tithes from at the outlines of monastic robust debate among the stu- 200 villages – was less and cells and lecture halls, I try to dents, following the Buddha’s less a part of ordinary Indian imagine what this place must teaching to trust in your own society toward the end. have been like when Asian observations, not to take anoth- Nalanda’s influence was kings sponsored colleges er’s truth on faith. And here declining even before the here, Nagarjuna taught here, Shantideva was born, lived all invasion. And elsewhere, dif- and monks from as far away his life, and composed his fering traditions of Buddhism as China came to learn theol- extraordinary reflections – now were arising, like Ch’an (the ogy, logic, metaphysics, and read as A Guide to the Chinese word for zen), which medicine. Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, a began in the sixth century. central text of Mahayana After exploring the ruins, our Buddhism. Now, sitting in the ruins of group sits in the shade of a this magnificent place, neem tree, where the chorus Stephen reminds us that, the Stephen offers the thought of parakeets and doves, day before, our group hiked to that the way Buddhism in the “Bodidharma” mynahs and crows, and the a nearby cave, in a nondescript West develops its structures, Sogaku Harada Roshi (1871-1961) tuk-tuk-tuk of a local bird hill outside Rajgir. That cave its institutions, will determine called a coppersmith barbet was where the Buddha’s fol- how it survives. It is still to compete with the voice of the lowers, after his death, held the be seen; the question is open. author Stephen Batchelor. First Buddhist Council; they Stephen, our teacher, asked themselves how to pre- describes what is known of serve and carry on his teach- Cynthia Brown is a member of life at Nalanda from a sev- ings. Nalanda, says Stephen, Still Mind Zendo. Jean Gallagher’s new book of poetry, Stubborn, has just been published. Each poem is inspired by a painting. News Just a Moment Please And Notes (Duccio, Massacre of the Innocents, ca. 1308) SMZ welcomes an affiliate, the Plum Blossom Zendo of Pittsburgh. Members of the sangha have been sitting together for Time hits the room in helicopter blades what I love several years, and some attended last November’s sesshin. goes down like grass. Wait I say leaning In May, Stephen Nadler was accepted at just a little out of grief’s gravity well. Just Drew University in Madison, N.J. He plans to major in biology and minor in German, a moment please. My loss turns looks straight and hopes to make it to the city on Tuesday nights. at me. Yes? it says. The things I want Dharma Holder Gregory Abels spent April and May in Prague, directing the European to ask it silt up like blood like happiness premiere of Roman Nights by Franco D’Alesandro, a play about Tennessee in my mouth. My life has always Williams and Anna Magnani. Meantime, as he prepares to become Dharma Heir to Roshi flickered like the light between the blades. Robert Jinsen Kennedy, one aspect of his training is concentrated work copying classi- cal Chinese zen texts, known as the Transmission Papers. —Jean Gallagher, from Stubborn. Loretta Mijares announced in early May © Oberlin College Press, 2006 that she is "sitting for two," with the new arrival expected in September. “...don’t waste a second criticizing yourself.” Still. News from Still Mind Zendo June 2006 Vol.3 No.2 Editor Four Traps That Can Cynthia Brown Design Mark Rubin Poetry Editors Derail Us As We Sit Jean Gallagher Gregory Abels Production Stephen Nadler by Janet Jiryu Abels, Sensei Enso (sumi circle) artwork by Mayumi Ishino The very heart of zazen is, of expect the return to be clean. off yet again. You wandered off Still Mind Zendo is a non-sectar- course, sitting in a strong pos- Most of the time it will be into thoughts unconsciously. ian Zen community in the ture, placing our awareness on pretty muddled. A bit of your You didn’t want to wander off - Soto/Rinzai lineage of the White the breath ("just this"), and awareness is striving to find - it just happened. To criticize Plum Asangha. It was founded then holding this awareness on that elusive breath, with prob- this unconscious action is a in 1994 by its now resident that breath as it rises and falls. ably a much larger part of complete and utter waste of teacher Sensei Janet Jiryu Abels. Seems easy, right? Yet all who your awareness hooked by the time. It will get you nowhere Still Mind Zendo is incorporated sit will attest to the enormous latest interesting or compul- except perhaps, sadly, to give as a not-for-profit organization difficulty of this seemingly sive thought. Don’t worry up practice altogether. Having in the State of New York and run simple action of awareness about this. It is all "part of thoughts is normal. It, too, is by a Council (the Board of practice. the deal." I call this the place "part of the deal." Everyone Directors) made up of SMZ members. of "bothness" -- both breath- has thoughts. Why should you There are many reasons why attention and thoughts at the be different? So don’t waste a Council this is so, but, over the years, I same time. Sometimes the second criticizing yourself. President: Tom Carney have become aware of four breath awareness wins out, Just strive to return to the Vice President: Gregory Abels particular traps that can derail sometimes it loses to the breath as best you can. That is Secretary: Julia McEvoy one’s awareness practice and stronger thoughts. But, as long true practice. Treasurer: Tom Carney even discourage one from con- as your intent is to keep bring- Cynthia Brown tinuing practice altogether. It ing the awareness back to the Finally, don’t fall into the trap Jean Gallagher is, therefore, important to get breath and you keep striving of trying to "capture" your Marisa Cespedes to know these traps, to see to do this, you are doing per- awareness. Strive to hold your Mark Rubin how easily we buy into them fect practice. awareness on the breath when and to train ourselves to avoid you get back in touch with it. Spiritual Director: them. If you stop believing the illu- but don’t look for your aware- Janet Jiryu Abels sion that you have to come ness to remain still. It moves, it First, don’t back cleanly and purely, that changes. Is not your breath Submissions for articles get into the your enormously seductive moving? Keep moving with it.